Darksiders II: Cartoon Network edition
by Laci the Hunter
Summary: After a mishap at a science convention, several heroes along with three mischievous boys, a child genius, an energetic magic princess and her karate loving friend and a crazy woodpecker are taken from their world and taken to the Veil. Meanwhile a certain horseman is riding forth to redeem his brother. Now he and the heroes must work together so both sides would get what they want.
1. The Machine

**A/N: Salutare tuturor. This is Laci the Hunter once again (unfortunately) bringing you another crazy idea from the depths of the darkest, evilest, most insane place in all of Creation: my head. So anyway, I got this idea while watching a walkthrough on Darksiders II and while I was watching the Cartoon Network City bumpers of YouTube—you guys HAVE TO check them out, they're really funny and really good if you're into some good quality crossovers (*cries*why didn't they make a movie of this?)—and since I'm such a sucker for Darksiders II and since I'm in the mood for some CN crossovers I decided to just go for this. Now for the cartoons themselves, I've already decided which will be in this particular story so please don't make any suggestions in the reviews, and it won't just be CN shows. I decided to add 'My Life as a Teenage Robot', 'Star vs the Forces of Evil' and 'Woody Woodpecker' as well, the title is 'Cartoon Network edition' because there are more CN shows in the story itself—I hope that makes sense.**

 **While we're on the subject, here's a list of cartoons that will be featured in this story:**

 **Dexter's Laboratory**

 **The Powerpuff Girls**

 **Mighty Magiswords**

 **The Life and Times of Juniper Lee**

 **Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi**

 **Generator Rex**

 **Ben 10**

 **My Life as a Teenage Robot**

 **Star vs the Forces of Evil**

 **Samurai Jack**

 **Steven Universe**

 **Ed Edd 'n' Eddy**

 **Woody Woodpecker**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this story and now let's get started:**

 **Darksiders II: Cartoon Network edition**

 **The machine**

 _ **Crowfather:**_

 _There can be no life without order. Good, evil, light, darkness. There must be balance in the universe._

 _Such is the decree of the Charred Council. An ancient body charged by the Creator, to preserve the very fabric of existence._

 _But the law…has been broken._

 _Even now Earth smolders in ruin. Conquered by the Demon Lords. And where the Destroyer carves a new kingdom, amongst his mighty Chosen. Some say the Horseman War triggered the Apocalypse. That he rode to Earth unbidden and doomed mankind to extinction._

 _But what of the other Horsemen? Fearless enforcers of the Council's will. What of Fury…Strife…and Death. To know those names, you must first know another:_

 _Nephilim._

 _Cursed union of angel and demon._

 _The nephilim put countless worlds to the blade…and doomed them to ash. But four among them grew weary of the slaughter and believed that their actions would one day imperil the Balance._

 _And so a truce was made. The four would serve the Council, in exchange for unimaginable power. Thus were the dreaded Horsemen made. And riders' first task was to purge their own brethren from Creation._

 _To annihilate the nephilim…and destroy their souls._

 _Let us now cast our gaze to one amongst the Four. Not War, who lies chained at the Council's feet, professing his innocence…but to one who would save his brother above all else. He has many names…Kinslayer, Executioner…_

 _Death._

 **XXX**

 _ **The Veil**_

In a land of eternal snow, ice and cold, a dark green crow flies through the skies, moving against the hauling winds, as bellow the creature the heavy stomps of a running horse could be heard.

 _To bargain for War's freedom Death swore that he would resurrect humanity._

A pale, corpse-like horse with what appear to be green flames made of hauling souls on its hooves and forming its main and tail, galloped through the snow-kept mountainous terrain. On its back rode a mysterious figure, whose body was covered by a charcoal black cloak, which only left the figure's metallic greaves, bone-gloved hands and an odd skull-mask visible.

 _But he knew not how this might be done._

The figure's fire-orange eyes looked forward, guiding his loyal steed in the direction he was determined to get to.

 _And so Death rode into the icy Veil…to find the Keeper of Secrets…Not knowing that in his journey to find his brother's absolution, he would come across a group of unique individuals, who would change his life…for better or for worse._

The figure pulled the reins of his horse as they approached the edge of a cliff. Once the steed stopped, the figure looked forth and saw a massive fortress covered in snow and ice in the distance.

Directing his horse to the left, the figure rode on the path towards the fortress, and was ready to begin his search for the man who would give him the answers he needs to help save his brother from oblivion.

 **XXX**

 _ **Other Earth; Megaville; Science Convention**_

In another realm, which would be similar to Earth, before it was taken over by the Destroyer, something great is about to happen. Something that would change the lives of a few very special individuals.

The city of Megaville is considered by many around the world as the 'Hub of Super Heroes'. A great number of people with unique abilities live in this city, some of which devoted their lives to safeguarding humanity. Others of a unique character simply carry on with their lives, with no fear or sometimes even care for the many life-threatening events that happen on a daily basis.

Currently in a large, futuristic-looking building, known as 'The Center of Scientific Research and Development' or the 'CSRD' a huge gathering of people can be found in the building's center hall.

The CSRD was founded many years ago by two groups of people: the 'Plumbers' and 'Providence'. They are special military divisions, each dealing with a certain threat they were assigned to; the Plumbers handle illegal or human-threatening alien activities, while Providence is to deal with certain types of monstrous creatures known as Evos. In the beginning they worked separately, one never meddling in the business of the other. However at one point the number of both dangerous alien and evo activities began to grow at an alarming rate. Even worse, some aliens even took to capturing and using the more animalistic evos to further their own gains.

The situation became so bad, that the Plumbers and Providence were forced to work together, to put aside old rivalries, grudges, even protocols for the sake of the greater good.

Each military division gathered their top researchers to pool in their knowledge of the enemies they would be facing. They developed new technologies that would help them against the alien and evo threat.

The battles that followed afterwards were long and hard, but after two years of hard work, the combined efforts of both the Plumbers and Providence were able to drive away the more unfriendly aliens and either destroyed or captured the evos.

Many lives were saved in this event, and because the Plumbers and Providence respected each other now for all the effort they put into making this victory possible, they decided to found the construction of the CSRD, as a symbol of how many scientists in any kind of field could achieve much if they could work together.

And the building stood firm since then, welcoming veteran or eager young scientists and their various researches in order to make their visions a reality, to help better mankind itself.

At the moment, the CSRD is hosting a 'Science Convention' which is a little something they came up with a couple of years ago in order to raise funds and encourage people who want a scientific carrier to come to them.

Many booths were lined up in every direction, each with a theme of its own. Some booth managers showed their research on thermal dynamics, others on cosmology, robotic engineering, and even the simple classics, like geology, biology, chemistry, etc.

However, it was the center stage that would show the biggest attraction ever today.

On top of the stage was a massive, dome-shaped machine, made of light colored steel and covered with various buttons, switches, and blinking lights. On the center of the front end of the machine was a large ring of metal.

Operating the large mechanism was a small boy, with red curly hair. He was wearing a white lab coat, black boots and pants and purple gloves. His most distinguishable feature of course was his pair of large, thick rimmed glasses.

"How's the work coming along Dexter?"-asked a kind, male voice to the boy's left.

The little boy, now identified as Dexter, turned his attention away from the machine and looked up at who addressed him. The one who spoke to him was a tall, middle age man, wearing a white lab coat, black pants and shoes and he also had black, combed hair.

"It is coming along, just fine Professor Utonium."-Dexter answered, in a bizarre, almost Russian accent-"This latest invention of mine is sure to attract at least half of the city."

The professor chuckled in amusement-"Well, considering the fact that you distributed fliers about your invention ALL over the city, I doubt there will be very few patrons to witness this."

Dexter looked down at the floor for a moment, a blush spreading on his face as he deemed that part as another embarrassing moment of his life.-"W-well I couldn't help myself!"-Dexter countered-"I was so excited about this new invention of mine, I just wanted as many people as possible to be here to watch my genius in action."

Dexter ended his claim, by puffing out his chest in pride, which resulted in a girl giggling right behind him.-"Oh you were excited alright. I haven't seen you like that since we went to get the last issue of the 'Major Glory' comic book together."

Dexter's blush came back full force, as he sighed in exasperation and turned to look at the one addressing him this time. It turned out to be a little girl about his age and height. She wore a small sleeveless pink shirt with a black sash over her middle. She also wore white socks and black shoes. The girl's most distinguishable traits were her large pink eyes, long orange hair and the big red bow on her head.

"And pray tell, what is that supposed to mean Blossom?"-Dexter asked the girl in front of him.

"Well duh,"-Blossom began-"your eyes were all swelled with excitement, you were giggling like a little schoolgirl, and you were also running all over the place like you were on a sugar rush."

Now Dexter's entire head became beat red, to the point where one would hardly be able to distinguish his hair from his face.-"Hey! I do not…giggle…like you women."-Dexter said indignantly as he crossed his arms and turned away from the now giggling Blossom-"Besides, I simply wanted people to bare witness to my awesome genius."

"Hehehe, sure you do Dexter. You can be so cute when you get flustered."-Blossom said, not ceasing her giggling.

Professor Utonium chuckled good heartedly, knowing full well of the relationship between his smart little girl and the equally smart little boy. Deciding that Blossom had teased him enough, the professor intervened:

"Alright Blossom, why don't we go and find Bubbles and Buttercup, and leave Dexter to do his work."

"Okay professor."-Blossom answered and was about to float away from the two scientists, until she turned back to Dexter and kissed him on his right cheek-"Good luck out there Dex."-then she flew off to find her sisters.

Dexter stood there, his hand unconciously touching the spot where Blossom kissed him, a goofy smile grassing his lips. Seeing this caused the professor to chuckle once again, pulling Dexter out of Lala land and back onto Earth.

"What is so funny?"-Dexter demanded irritably

"Oh nothing Dexter. Nothing at all."-the professor answered-"I guess I'm just happy my little Blossom found the right man in her life. And at such a young age too."

Dexter simply turned back to the machine and continued working on it.-"You say that almost every time you see us together. It is not that big of a deal, I assure you. Now please remove yourself from the premises, I have to make sure I calibrate this thing correctly."

"Alright Dexter. I have to find my daughters anyway."-the professor began to walk away, but stopped and looked over his shoulder to look at the child prodigy once again-"And I will keep saying _that_ , because I'm happy for you too. You know, living all by yourself for your entire life, will leave you emotionally scarred. You should remember that, and appreciate your time with Blossom."

Once the professor was out of earshot, Dexter let out an exhausted groan. The professor gave him this same spiel many times before, and whether the boy-genius liked it or not, the man was right.

Dexter used to live a very reclusive life before meeting the Powerpuff girls. Even though he had his parents and—many times dimwitted—big sister, he still felt alone, because he didn't have anyone he could truly connect with. He was already an excepted and well respected member of the CSRD when the Utoniums moved into Megaville. When he first met the Powerpuff girls and saw them in action, bringing down one of Mandark's destructive constructs that was meant for him, he was impressed by their powers and abilities and became friends with them and their father relatively quickly. It was during school when he got to spend more time with Blossom that the two noticed how much they had in common, especially in the field of science. Knowing this, the two grew closer to each other to the point where they became a couple. And this knowledge was something both the Utoniums and Dexter's family knew of.

Ever since then, Dexter was more happier, knowing there was someone of the opposite sex who shared his passion for science and knowledge and he did cherish his moments with Blossom. But that doesn't mean he had to like it whenever professor Utonium told him to do just that.

' _Still…he is still right about one thing. I should enjoy my time with Blossom while it lasts. With her being a super hero and me often doing dangerous experiments—and having to deal with my stuuupid destructive sister—one never knows when it might be our last time together.'_ -Dexter thought somberly as he continued to calibrate his invention

 **XXX**

 _ **Forest outside Megaville**_

Within the thick forests that surround the city of Megaville, three individuals can be seen walking through its more darker area; two girls and one man.

The lone male of the group had long light blue hair, with sideburns and a single line of hair on his chin both of similar color to his hair. The man also had a red bandana tied around his forehead to keep his wild hair out of his eyes. The man was wearing a sleeveless, red and orange button-up shirt of some sort, with a black T-shirt underneath, red and black striped wristbands, a black belt around his waist, burgundy colored pants, purple boots with pink sols and lastly an orange colored scarf wrapped around his neck.

Next to the male was a young woman a couple of inches shorter than the man. Her hair was of a much darker shade of blue and her eyes were strangely blood-red. She had a pair of light green oval earrings and she also had a yellow bandana keeping her hair out of her eyes just like the man. In terms of clothing, she wore a dark green unitard with black rolled-up sleeves, but strangely no pants. She had a black belt with a light green circle around her mid-section, dark green boots and gloves and lastly she had a yellow cape tied around her neck.

The one thing the young man and woman had in common—aside from hair color and weird fashion choices—was a small bag with a letter M tied to each of their belts.

Walking in front of the two was the second girl of the group, who was also younger than the previous woman, about eleven or twelve years of age in fact. She was of Asian descent with flowing black hair, which had red line going across it. She was wearing more normal looking clothes than the other two: a short sleeved green T-shirt with red highlights and a red dragonfly in the middle, a pair of dark blue denim jeans with a brown belt holding them up and lastly a pair of dark brown shoes with black sols. She was also wearing a brown wristband on her left wrist, which had a large purple crystal on it.

As the group of three walked across the thick underbrush of the woods, the lone male of the group spoke up:

"Sooo, remind me again why are we back here again Vamber?"

"Ack, how many times must I tell you Prohyas,"-the woman with dark blue hair started explaining…again-"We are here because the Mysterious Hooded Woman asked us to slay a monster that's been terrorizing the forests around Rhyboflaven. _Now_ do you get it brother?"

"Oh no, I get what we're supposed to be doing."-Prohyas answered his snarky sister-"What I don't get is; A if this monster's terrorizing Rhyboflaven, than why are we in the forests of Megaville? And B why did we bring _her_ along?"-he ended his question by pointing at their youngest associate, who turned around to address them both.

"Because smart guy, the crystal on my wristband alerted me of the same monster you two have been hired to kill, and as the Te Xuan Ze it's my job to stop this thing before it hurts somebody."

"Quite right Juniper dear."-Vamber added, then addressed her brother-"And she knows these woods better than we do Prohyas, so that is an added bonus to our cause."

"Okay fine."-Prohyas conceded-"But the Mysterious Hooded Woman promised to pay us 10 000 gems if we pull this off. *whisper* And what if we have to split the reward with her? We need the money for this month's rent, remember?"

"Ahem."-Juniper interjected, drawing the attention of both Warrior siblings-"I'm the Te Xuan Ze, not a mercenary like you two, so you can keep whatever money you're promised."

"There, see? Problem solved."-Vamber said with smug and finality

'Well alright, I guess…"-Prohyas conceded once again before changing the subject-"So what _exactly_ are we looking for?"

"Well the Mysterious Hooded Woman said the monster's called the 'Wolf Beast'."-Vamber explained before Juniper chimed in:

"Yeah, my dog Monroe told me about it. It's basically a wolf, but on serious steroids."

"Oh! Well if it's just a wolf, than we can handle it, no problem."-Prohyas proclaimed, right before a loud growl was heard in the air, sending a shiver of fear down the group's backs.

Walking towards a cluster of bushes the three heroes peered over the vegetation to see the source of the ungodly noise, but soon regretted their decision.

There, just a few feet away from them, devouring a half torn apart elk, was a wolf the size of a friggin' car. Juniper Lee wasn't joking when she said the beast was on steroids, for every part of its body was all muscle. It was covered in light brown fur, and a thick mane of dark brown fur covered its back and neck. It had large claws, a pair of massive canines and two glowing red eyes. In short, this thing was the very definition of a beast.

"Oookay, so ignoring its disgusting eating habits, how do we vanquish this beast?"-Prohyas inquired

"Hmmm…"-Vamber said as she was holding her chin with her thumb and index finger in a classic thinking pose, until she lit up with inspiration-"I've got it. Prohyas, you will use Excaliburger to distract the beast, then Juniper and I will use our skills and magiswords to vanquish it."

"Awww, but I wanted to fight it too."-Prohyas whined, not at all pleased with his role in this plan.

"Well it's the only plan we've got that might actually work. Besides would you rather waste a lot of time fighting and getting really hurt by this thing, or would you rather go home, collect your paycheck and buy some of your magical sword thingies?"-Juniper Lee asked, silencing Prohyas for a moment, before the male Warrior sibling let out a defeated sigh and said:

"Fine, let's do it. But Vamber, you have to promise me that I get to fight the next monster we encounter."

"Deal."-Vamber said, with both Warrior siblings shaking hands in agreement.

With that Prohyas promptly jumped out of the bush and shoved his hand inside the sack on his belt. After rumedging through the sack for a bit, he pulled out a small object.

 **EXCALIBURGER MAGISWORD**

Doing a horizontal swing caused the small object to grow into a much larger version of itself. The object in question was a sword handle, the blade of which was…a giant hamburger…with a propeller on top…I'm not making this up even if I'm trying guys.

"Well here goes nothing."-Prohyas declared as he pointed the unusual sword at the beast and from the…blade were summoned smaller versions of the blade that flew in the direction of the Wolf Beast.

The monster itself still had its giant muzzle buried deep inside the dead elk's stomach, when the noise of multiple propellers drew its attention. Pulling its blood-covered muzzle out of the carcass it saw a flock of flying hamburgers in its field of vision. It looked at the flying fast-food items for a moment longer, before it pounced and tried to snap its massive jaws at them. It only managed to snag one of them, while the others kept evading its giant mouth.

Watching the show was a very pleased Prohyas-"Hey it worked."-he said, before turning back to the bush-"Alright sis it worked. It's your turn now."

After finishing his sentence the young mercenary felt hot air blowing at the back of his neck. Gulping loudly, Prohyas slowly turned to around to see that the Wolf Beast was now just a couple of inches away from his face. It had a busted up propeller hanging outside its mouth, and with no signs of the multitude of propeller burgers anywhere, Prohyas can safely conclude that the beast at them all.

"Ehehehe, uhm…want some more dude?"-Prohyas nervously asked, which only made the beast growl and bare its teeth at him.

"Hya!"-Juniper yelled, as her foot made contact with the Wolf Beast's head, pushing it back a few feet.

Prohyas sighed in relief as he looked to address the young Te Xuan Ze, once she landed right next to him:

"Thanks little dudelett. I owe ya one."

"Owe me two, and we're even."-Juniper told the Warrior, before jumping up and smashing the Wolf Beast's head into the ground with her feet-"AND DON'T CALL ME 'DUDELETT'! THAT'S NOT EVEN A WORD!"

"It is so!"-Prohyas rebuked, as he watched Juniper uppercut the beast, then round-house kicked the monster's maw.

While normally Juniper would display feats of strength not normal for most twelve-year-olds, her strikes seemed like mere nudges to this massive beast.

To even prove this, the Wolf Beast glared at Juniper with its flaring red eyes and roared at her with an ungodly roar, spitting out chunks of bone, meet, blood and propeller parts in the process.

"Aww gross! I just put on a clean t-shirt today!"-Juniper complained, barely noticing the beast leap at her.

Luckily Prohyas came to her aid by using his Hook Magisword to pull the young Te Xuan Ze away from the spot where the beast crashed in. After acknowledging Juniper's thanks, Prohyas decided to make the job easier on them, and subdue the beast with:

 **MUMMY MAGISWORD**

Which was a sword handle, with a large, thick hand wrapped in gauze as the blade. Prohyas then pointed the sword at the beast and long gauzes flew out of the hand's fingers straight towards the monster, wrapping around its body and immobilizing it.

"Oh good work Prohyas. I was about to ask you to do just that."-Vamber suddenly said, while holding another magisword, this one's handle being made of stone with a green jewel in the cross-guard, and the blade looking like a round boulder.-"Now than, time to end this!"

 **BOULDER MAGISWORD**

She then waved her magisword at the tied-up beast, and then from out of nowhere a large boulder appeared over the beast's head, landed on said body part and then cracked and split in two like a giant egg, with the Wolf Beast lying on the ground unconscious.

"Well, that takes care of that."-Vamber said, her magisword shrunk and she placed the magical item back into her magisword bag.

"What the heck took ya so long?"-Prohyas demanded of his sister-"Jun and I almost became dog-chow."

"Sorry about that."-Vamber began explaining-"I just couldn't decide whether to use the Boulder Magisword or the Ground-Pound Magisword."

"Couldn't you've gone with whichever you grabbed without looking?"-Prohyas inquired

"Oh! I haven't thought of that."-Vamber admitted

"Well, I think we're all done here."-Juniper said, wringing part of her shirt to get rid of some of the slobber and blood the monster spilled on her-"You guys can take that thing with you, or do whatever you want with it. I'm going home and see if I could get some new clean clothes."

"Thank you dear."-Vamber told her-"And might I also suggest a nice hot shower."

"Yeah, with lots of shampoo too."-Prohyas added

"Oh don't worry. I think I'll use the entire bottle that we have."-Juniper said, but then the crystal on her wristband began to pulsate with a yellow glow and a beeping noise-"Ugh, seriously?! What is it now?!"

Well, she as well as the Warrior siblings got their answer, when they heard a deep growl coming from right behind them. They turned around to see the Wolf Beast slowly rising up from the ground, and with a mighty tug, the monster ripped apart the gauzes that kept him immobile.

"Wow. That thing must be real thickheaded to be back on his feet that quickly."-Prohyas said, gaining an annoyed glare from Vamber

"Prohyas now's not the time for your lame puns."-Vamber chastised her brother.

Their bickering was interrupted by another growl from the beast, and when they looked in its direction they saw it turn around and run away. This left the whole group in a state of shock, until Prohyas broke the silence:

"So uh…any idea where it went?"

Vamber simply shrugged since she didn't know where the monster could've gone off to, Juniper on the other hand did:

"Oh no. That thing is headed straight for town."

The worry in her voice was enough to gain the Warrior siblings' attention in full.

"I'm sorry, but…did you just say that thing is head for the…city?"-Prohyas asked worriedly, hoping he had only misheard.

"YES!"-Juniper clarified as she started running after the monster-"C'mon! We have to stop it before it kills someone."

Vamber and Prohyas looked at each other and realized that Juniper had a point. If they don't stop that beast than, not only will they not get paid, but they will also dishonor the very occupation their last name stands for.

So with looks of determination they each pulled out two colorful greatswords from their bags and…began flying on them after Jun and the beast.

 **XXX**

 _ **The Veil; The Frozen Fortress**_

The ice giant stumbled back a few steps, after taking another powerful blow from its adversary.

Its objective was as clear as the ice that made up its home and body: if its smaller and weaker brethren failed to stop the intruder, then it would step in and crush the trespasser itself. Its master demanded this.

But what it didn't anticipate was for the intruder to fight back with such ferocity and strength. It was like fighting another ice giant.

The giant shook its skull and was about to try and pound the intruder again, but before it could a giant, jagged blade destroyed its ribcage and stabbed its spine. The owner of the blade then swung the large scythe behind it, taking the spine with it, leaving the rest of the giant's body to recover. The skull was still attached to the spine and from its upside down position it could see its body reforming itself. But before its body could fully reform, the intruder swung his scythe at the giant's body once again and—using the spine of the frosted undead—it smashed the giant's body into pieces, leaving lifeless bones and ice in its place.

In a burst of purple magic flames, the hooded rider stood before the scattered remains of his adversaries. He gave them an A for effort, but they weren't enough to stop him. Not even the big one could. He knew full well that it was him who created these things. He knew full well he was trying to stop him by any means necessary. But no matter what comes his way, he will cut down and destroy anything that will stand in his way, in order to save his brother.

He then saw a cluster of stones from a wall slide upwards, forming an entrance to the next level of the fortress.

The rider didn't groan in exhaustion or complained about there being more to go, he simply sheathed his weapons and began walking again.

' _Soon brother, I will find a way to free you from the Council…I promise.'_

 **XXX**

 _ **Other Earth; CSRD Science Convention**_

Behind the center stage of the convention, stood two teenage girls of Japanese descent, with some rather unique looks. One of them was leaning on the wall, tuning a red electric guitar. She had short purplish blue hair which partially covered her right eye, her other eye, which was blue in color, showed that she had some mascara painted. Her outfit consisted of a short sleeved lavender t-shirt with a skull in the middle, a black skirt, a pair of black boots with purple sols, and she also had a black collar with spikes around her neck and similar wristbands on both of her wrists. Her bored frown indicated that she wasn't very much into the convention itself, and coupled with her outfit, pretty much gave her a street punk sort of look.

The second girl on the other hand, was the complete polar opposite of the punkish girl. Her eyes were dark pink with some eyeshadow. Her hair was long and pink, reaching all the way to her waist, while some of the top portion was tied as a pair of buns. She also had a yellow flower hairclip on her right hair bun. Her outfit was also much brighter than her friend's: a yellow and orange tank top, a white sash-like belt, a yellow and pink skirt, a pair of high heeled white boots and an orange beaded wristband around her left wrist. She seemed to be in a much more pleasant mood than her companion, who began to make her voice known:

"Aiya, this is sooo boring Ami. Why did we even come to this nerd fest?"

"Because Yumi, Kaz said the CSRD would pay us greatly if we threw in a little performance after Dexter's presentation."-the pink haired girl, now known as Ami, told her opposite friend, Yumi.

"Who the hell's Dexter?"-Yumi asked in a bored tone, raising an eyebrow.

"Dexter, you know the little kid who makes all kinds of amazing inventions?"-Ami responded, to which Yumi still had her eyebrow raised, forcing her to continue-"The founder of Dex Labs? One of the elite here in CSRD?...The kid who fixed our equipment when they broke down last month?"

"Oh! You mean the Prince of Nerds."-Yumi said, with her face showing jenuine realization, while Ami simply looked at her friend with half lidded eyes.

"Seriously Yumi?"-Ami asked-"How could you forget about him, when we saw him exactly ONE MONTH ago? And why are you calling him the 'Prince of Nerds'?"

"Well duh, because he is the biggest nerd I've ever seen in my life."-Yumi said in her usual laid back tone-"I mean seriously, he wouldn't shut up with his big fancy words last time we saw him. I swear to God, I was this close to tying him up and gag him, just to shut him up."

Ami simply rolled her eyes at what her friend was saying. Okay, now she herself wasn't a huge fan of science, but she did enjoy the things scientists invented. Things that a person would normally see only in the movies. Plus most of what the scientists here at the CSRD are doing, is meant to help people, and since Ami likes helping people and make them happy, she has no problems with what's going on in the institute.

"Well _I_ think that whatever Dexter's going to be presenting tonight is going to be great."-Ami told her friend-"Also, I guess it should be fair for me to mention that _I_ had to thank him for his help for the both of us, since you wouldn't stop being rude."

Yumi simply rolled her eyes, as she set her guitar next to herself and placed her hands behind her head-"Whatever. I just don't like nerds, okay? I thought I told you already that I'm only into bad boys and cool guys. Guys liiiiike…Rex Salazar!"-Yumi said excitedly as she pointed behind Ami, who looked over shoulder and saw that, yes indeed, thee Rex Salazar of Providence, walking around, as if he were looking for something.

 _ **With Rex**_

Rex Salazar, or as some people from town would call him 'Generator Rex', was indeed browsing through the many stalls of the convention, but for a completely different reason. For the past few weeks he's been kicking evo ass, and he barely got any time for a break. And when he did, that time was spent training in order to 'sharpen his skills', as his partner Six would tell him.

So now he found himself here at the convention as an excuse to get away from all the stress, courtesy from dr. Holiday. Now he wasn't really into science like Holiday was, but he figured he may as well take this as a win. And there is also mostly free food involved so, who was he to complain? Besides this, he also wanted to see Dexter's latest invention as well.

Now he and the little child genius aren't exactly BFFs, but Dexter did help him out a lot of times, especially when it came to tech problems. He was also hoping to meet some other people he might know here, but no such luck.

"Yo Rex!"

' _Spoke too soon.'_ -thought the young evo.

Rex turned and saw the source of the voice being his friend and partner-in-crime-fighting, Ben Tenyson, a young man about his age, with short brown hair, blue geans, black and white tennis shoes, black T-shirt and a green jacket with the number ten on its left side. But Ben's signature attire had to be the newly improved omnitrix on his left wrist, which was white with a black faceplate and green lines forming an hourglass outline on the faceplate. This was the device that made Ben one of the strongest heroes from Megaville, although Rex himself was no slouch, evidence being all the sparring matches the two had in the past.

When Ben got close to Rex the teen heroes shook hands and Ben spoke first:

"I didn't think I'd bump into you here dude. I thought you weren't into all this sciency stuff."

"Well I still am not."-Rex said-"But Holiday told White Knight and Six that I should come here and check out all the tech that's being shown off, as part of my training."

"Oh yeah, I heard that there's been a sudden increase in evo activity lately."-Ben said, coming to a realization-"Is that why you didn't show up for smoothies last Friday night?"

"Trained with Six all day, then went out to fight some giant centipede evo."-Rex answered-"Sorry about that though. I really did want to meet up with you guys."

"Eh, no big deal."-Ben reassured him-"I mean, a hero's gotta do what a hero's gotta do, right?"

"Yeah, but it's still a pain in the ass sometimes."-Rex sighed tiredly-"Well anyway, so what about you? An alien action lately?"

"Pfft, you have no idea. Twelve hours-a-day of non-stop alien attacks every week."-Ben said, releasing a tired sigh himself-"I mean, I'm lucky enough to be able to do my homework or study for tests. Good thing grandpa and the Plumbers said there were no alien activities happening today."

"Wow, so we're in the same boat than."-Rex said-"But if you have a day off, then why are you here?"

"Homework. Go to the science convention, find a cool enough invention and write about it."

"Dude, that's harsh."

"Yeah, well I might as well enjoy myself, since Dexter won't be helping me out until _after_ his presentation is done."

"Wait, you're writing about Dex's invention?"-Rex asked in a surprised tone, to which Ben nodded.

"Yep, since he always makes the coolest stuff, figured I might as well wright about his latest invention."

"Well at least you'll get something good out of—"

"Yeah mom, I told you five times already. I'm at the convention and I've already talked to Dexter."-a rather irritated female voice interrupted the two's conversation.

Both boys turned to the side to see a teenage girl…who's also a robot. She physically looked their age, her body made of white metal, with blue metal acting as a short top and skirt as well as boots. She also had two blue metal triangles on her head, which looked like pigtails. She also had a TV coming out of her chest, with the black and white image of an elderly woman wearing goggles. The two seemed to be in a hot debate right now.

"No mom, he didn't tell me what his invention is. He said-"-and the girl left her mouth opened and the voice of Dexter began to play- _"For you to marvel at my most geeenius invention…you will have to wait for the presentation like everybody else. Now away with you Miss XJ9, for I have many calibrations left to do. Oh and tell dr. Wakeman I said hi."_ -then she closed her mouth and started speaking normally again-"So as you can see he won't tell me anything, so if I have to wait, then you'll have to as well mother…Yes I'll record the whole event when it starts…Okay, yes, look I gotta go…yeah sure. Bye."

Having ended her conversation, the TV folded itself and went back in the girl's chest, before she released an exasperated sigh-"I'd better pull out my HD camera and make it good, or else mom will never get off my back."

"Jenny? Is that you?"-Ben asked, drawing the robot girl's attention, who was surprised at first, but then broke into a wide, happy smile

"Ben! Boy am I glad to see you here. I thought for sure I was gonna end up by myself here."-Jenny said as she approached the alien hero.

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing I won't be the only friendly face you'll see here."-Ben said, as he stepped aside to reveal Rex, upon which Jenny's eyes widened and her metal cheeks began to blush deep blue.

"Hey Jenny."-Rex greeted her friendly

"Oh! Uh…h-hi Rex, h-how's it hangin'? hehehe…"-Jenny said nervously, facepalming herself mentally- _'How's it hangin'? Really?! Wate-a-go Jenny. How much more of a dork can ya get?'_

"Well, ya know. Hero business lately as usual."-Rex simply answered, not seeming to notice Jenny's extreme nervousness.-"But right now, I'm on a break. What about you? What brings you here?"

The question seemed to have snapped Jenny out of whatever trance she was in, as she quickly regained her composer and answered normally:

"Well, my mom told me to come here and see what Dexter's latest invention is. She couldn't make the trip from Tremorton, since she's working on some new upgrade for me, while getting ready for a visit from her friend, professor Moshimo. So here I am, representing my mother, and being her eyes and ears in the presentation."

"Wait."-Ben chimed in-"Professor Moshimo's not coming to the convention? But isn't he one of the elite's here too, like Dexter is?"

"Well yeah, he is."-Jenny answered-"But no, I have no idea why he's not coming. Though I think I heard mom say something about 'catching up with an old friend'."

"Well then, maybe you should make two copies of that video you were gonna make Jen."-Rex suggested

"R-right, I was uh, just thinking that."-Jenny said, and then face Rex, but she was looking at the ground and was fiddling with rim of her 'skirt' and appeared to be more nervous now-"So, Rex. I was uh wondering if…y-you…h-have any plans for…t-tonight?"-seeing the confused look on the young evo's face, Jenny continued-"'C-cause I was thinking that…maybe…y-you and I could…you know…hang out…s-somewhere. S-since I'll be staying here till tomorrow, and all."

Once Jenny was finished, Rex thought for a minute, before he sighed in exasperation again and answered-"Urgh, sorry Jenny, but I'm pretty much booked for the whole week. Or maybe even the whole month if those stupid evos won't stop coming."

Hearing this made Jenny sad and disappointed, although she did understand his reasons. Although she was still bummed that she couldn't hang out with her crush.

In truth, Jenny had developed a crush on Rex, ever since he helped her defeat a giant scorpion evo, which at the time was under the control of Crackus and Smitus, queen Vexus' most dangerous henchmen. Ever since that day, Jenny couldn't help but become nervous every time she was near the teen hero, even though said hero didn't seem to notice it.

Seeing one of his friends and hero partner being all sad, Ben wanted to say something to cheer her up, but was interrupted by another girl's voice, who seemed to be whining for some reason.

"Marcoooo! Why the heck are we in this boooring place?"

When the three heroes looked in the direction of the voice, the saw a boy and a girl walk into view. The boy had tanned skin and brown eyes and hair, indicating a Hispanic heritage. He was wearing a red hoodie, black pants and red tennis shoes. The girl on the other hand looked completely different. She had blue eyes and long blond hair that reached her waist. She was wearing s light green dress, purple and red stripped stocking, purple shoes with smiling demon faces on them and she also had a red head-band on her head, which had a pair of small horns. She also had two hearts on her cheeks for some reason.

The girl looked like she was bored out of her skull, while the boy looked annoyed.

"Look Star, I already told you about a dozen times by now."-the boy said, addressing his partner-in-crime-" _I_ am here, because I wanted to see Dexter's latest invention. _You_ are here because you just wanted to tag along. Nobody forced you to come, ya know."

"I know, I know."-Star said-"But you said you were going somewhere FUN. And _this_ -"-she gestures to the whole convention-"-is the opposite of fun!"

"Look, I admit most of these things are pretty boring, but Dexter always makes cool things to spice these events up, so it won't be all that bad. And besides, Dexter tutored me a lot for my science tests, so I figured I should at least show up."

The young Butterfly princess simply sighed in exasperation, as she knew that Marco was too much of a nice guy to talk out of this.-"Okay fine, you win."-she admitted, before pulling out a pair of pink, stylized scissors-"But after this, we will go on an adventure somewhere, where there's lots of explosions, monsters, lava rivers and lots of weird things. Got it?"

"Right, got it."-Marco agreed

"Hehehe, looks like you guys are up to some trouble again, huh?"-Ben asked amusingly, as he approached the duo.

"BEN!"-Marco and Star shouted together in a happy/exited manner.

Once Ben was close enough he and Marco shook hands, and the Hispanic boy spoke first-"It's good to see ya here buddy."

"Yeah, it's good to see you to Marco."-Ben responded-"Glad to see you're not dead yet from—"

"BEN!"-Star shouted, as she wrapped her arms around the surprised super hero and gave him a tight hug.

"Hehe, hey Star. Good to see you too…"-Ben said nervously, since Star is well known for being a little too unpredictable and just overall too…bouncy.

"Oh my gosh, I am sooo glad you're here!"-Star said excitedly, after releasing the teen hero-"Because if you're here, then that means a super villain or super evil alien dude is gonna pop up here too, which means there will be some excitement here AFTER ALL!"

Ben had a confused look on his face and he made his confusion known-"Uh, why the heck would there be a super villain here, if I'm here?"

Now it was Star's turn to look confused, and while Marco was desparetely trying to get her to stop talking, she spoke anyway-"Well duh! You're the super hero, so it's only logical for a super villain to appear where ever the super hero is."

Now Ben was even more confused by this logic, but he then gained an irritated look, when he heard laughter coming from Rex and Jenny.

"Hahaha, well she's got you there Ben!"-Rex said, as he smacked the shapeshifter's back, who responded

"Yeah, real funny. Although, now that I think about it, you're no better Rex. I mean, evos keep popping up everywhere you are. It's almost like they're stalking you, like some twisted admirer or something."

Rex was surprised by the quick comeback by Ben, but he decided to play to off-"Well, I do like having fans swarming all over me, but 'crazy, stalking, evo fans'? No thanks."

There was silence at first, until they all broke out into laughter at Rex's joke. Then the two Hispanic boys decided to greet each other.

"Hey Rex, good to see ya bro."-Marco said as he shook Rex's hand

"Hey hombre, good to see ya too."-Rex said, then added with a cheeky grin-"So, how's your date with Star going?"

"Very funny, gearhead."-Marco said irritably.

"JENNY!"-Star shouted as she threw herself onto the robot girl's neck, swung around once, before stopping and giving her friend a big hug.

"Uh, h-hey Star. Good to see ya."-Jenny said nervously, although she was used to the princes' antics

"Yeah, right back at ya girlfriend!"-Star responded, before pulling Jenny closer to her face and speaking in a hushed tone-"So tell me, did you ask him out yet? Did he say yes? Tell me!"

Jenny quickly covered Star's mouth with her metal hand, before any of the other could hear her.-"Star, be quiet!"-Jenny hissed in a hushed tone-"Yes I asked him out, but he said he's busy right now, so maybe another time, okay?"

"Mmkmy."-Star mumbled, Jenny still having sealed her mouth shut with her hand.

"Hey what are you two talking about over there?"-Rex asked, to which the two girls quickly turned to face the boys before quickly saying:

"Nothing!"

Rex and Marco thought it was kinda weird how they acted, but decided not to say anything for now. Then Ben spoke up:

"Well, we still have some time before the show starts, so how 'bout we hang together then. Sound good?"

To which the hero got his answer, in the form of four simultaneous-"YEAH!". And so just like that, the gang of five went to browse around the convention until the time for the show came.

 **XXX**

 _ **Meanwhile, in another part of the convention**_

At a stall, which serves all manner of Japanese foods, a man wearing a pure white gi, with black hair tied in a small ponytail on his head, was offering a bowl filled with steaming ramen to a young boy. The boy was a little pudgy with curly brown hair, wearing a salmon pink T-shirt with a yellow star on its middle, light blue jeans and pink sandals.

"Here you go Steven. Now just be careful while you are eating it. It is still quite hot."-the Japanese man said, addressing the boy before him.

"Don't worry Mr. Jack I'll be super careful. Especially since I'm eating with chopsticks."-Steven answered, as he carefully held the bowl to his chest with one hand and started fiddling with a pair of chopsticks with his other hand.

The way he kept struggling to hold the sticks right and the grunting noises he produced, made Jack chuckle slightly, before he took the chopsticks back and offered a plastic fork for the little boy.

"Here you go my friend. This should make things easier for you."-Jack said softly, while Steven cutely pouted and blushed in embarrassment.

"I could've done it."-the little half-gem said as he started eating the noodles first, while Jack answered

"I know you could have Steven. But I do not wish for you to drop the bowl and spill hot ramen on yourself. You could burn yourself or one of the broken shards might even cut your legs as well."

"I know, I know."-Steven said dejectedly, before he raised his spoon up into the heavens and proclaimed-"But one day I will master the art of eating with chopsticks!"

Finding the scene before him quite amusing, Jack couldn't help but chuckle slightly, before asking Steven a question-"Steven, where is your father? Isn't he worried that you ran off by yourself?"

After slurping up another noodle, Steven spoke with a smile-"Oh don't worry Mr. Jack, dad didn't bring me here today. He's got a card game with some friends back in Beach city. The gems brought me here."

"STEVEN!"

And speak of the devil, three colorful ladies walked into view, approaching Steven.

The first of the three was the tallest, having dark purple skin, and wearing a dark burgundy full-body suite with purple star on her chest. She had a pair of very dark red gems on the palms of each of her hands. She also had a white visor covering her eyes and a square shaped afro. The second was the shortest, with lavender colored skin and a purple amethyst gem on her chest. She was wearing a white tank top, dark purple pants with a star on each knee, and light lavender shoes. She also had a long mane of lavender-whiteish hair, covering her left eye. The final member of the trio was of medium hight, with short peach colored hair pointed backwards and a white pearl on her forehead. She was wearing a light blue sleeveless dress that ended just a little past her waist with a star in the middle, and a darker blue sash tied around her waist, as well as light blue ballerina shoes. Her most distinguishing feature though, was her long, pointed nose, which gave her an almost bird-like appearance.

"There you are Steven."-the bird-like one said in a strict motherly tone-"You shouldn't run off like that. Some of these inventions can be rather…dangerous to be around if you're not careful."

"Aww don't worry Pearl, I'm fine, see?"-Steven reassured her-"I just wanted to taste some genuine Japanese ramen from Mr. Jack."

"Yeah, see P? There was nothing to worry about after all."-the lavender one said, before whispering to Steven-"She looked like she was really close to freaking out. That would've been funny."

"Amethyst, Steven separating from us and getting hurt in the process is not funny."-Pearl said, having heard her partner's comment.

"Yo chill out P. You know that's not what I meant."-Amethyst argued, before the tall one got between the two arguing gems

"Alright, why don't you both chill out. Remember, we're here so Steven can learn a little about science and for him to have some fun along the way too."-this seemed to have gotten the attention of the two gems as they both calmed down and backed off from each other. Satisfied with the results, the leader of the team turned to address the samurai-"Sorry about that Mr. Jack. This tends to happen every once in a while."

"Oh it is quite alright Ms. Garnet."-Jack politely said-"I guess you could say I have grown used to such antics."

"Then it's a good thing we came by. And while we're here…"-Amethyst said as she got up to Jack's stall-"Hit me with ten bowls of whatever the heck ya gave Steven."

"Amethyst we don't have enough money to pay for that high of an order."-Pearl scolded her comrade

"It is alright Pearl. Amethyst can have her food for free."-Jack reassured them

"AWW YEAH! FREE FOOD FOR THE WIN!"-Amethyst announced, gaining an annoyed look from a Pearl, a neutral look from Garnet and a giggle from Steven.

Further down a couple of stalls, three boys were hiding, watching the proceedings. They were all of different sizes and with different styles of clothing. The shortest had a flat head with three long strings of hair sticking out. He wore a short sleeved yellow T-shirt with purple edges, and a red line going down the left side of the shirt, cyan blue jeans and red shoes. The middle sized one wore a black beanie hat, a short sleeved red T-shirt, dark blue shorts, long red socks and blue shoes. The tallest had a bur-cut hair style, and he strangely had no chin, making his head look like a noodle. He wore a dark green jacket over a short sleeved burgundy and white stripped T-shirt, dark blue baggy pants, and black boots.

"Eddy, remind me once again, why are we scullking very close to Mr. Jack's stall, while the author of this—probably poorly written—story is describing our current appearences?"-the middle sized one asked the short one, who turned to him with an annoyed glare.

"Because Double D, we're waiting for Mr. Samurai and the riff raff to get moving to see that lame ass show. And when they're gone WHAM we take his food and sell for twice the amount he sells it for. We're gonna be rich."-Eddy said, his eyes turning into green dollar signs in the end, although Double D wasn't pleased with what he was hearing.

"Ignoring the fact that you are attempting to steal from someone who is not only a hero of Megaville, but also one of our most distinguished teachers at school, you gave me your word Eddy, that you and Ed would accompany me to see Dexter's presentation."

"Ah what's the big whoop."-Eddy waved his friend off-"You could just ask him to give ya a private look later or something. Right now, scam first."

As Eddy started rubbing his hands together with a devilish look on his face, Double D stomped forward until he was standing right in front of his short friend and said in a very ticked-off tone:

"Oh no, not this time Eddy. This time we will be spending our afternoon _my_ way, and since it is a presentation made by Dexter, then I am sure even you and Ed will find some enjoyment from it."-Double D declared as he saw his friend giving him his usual bored half lidded eye look, which prompted him to continue-"Or I could just walk up to Mr. Jack over there and tell him what you are about to do Eddy."

At this Eddy gasped in fright at what the samurai would do to him if he found out, which prompted him to glare at his smart friend-"You little snitch, you wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, but I most certainly would."-Double D said, as he turned away from the little conman, and began slowly walking towards his teacher. This made Eddy panic and after a few more steps, he quickly grabbed Double D's left leg and said:

"Okay, okay sock-head, you win. Ed and I will go with you, just please don't say anything."

Double D had a conniving grin on his face as he didn't turn to look at his friend yet, until he said-"Well, then I say should be off gentlemen. No reason to—"

Before Double D could finish his sentence, something wet landed on his left shoulder. When he turned to look he saw that it was mustard, giving it a disgusted look. Eddy was about to laugh at his friend's misfortune, until he felt something wet on his back. Using his finger, he scooped up a bit of the red liquid, tasted it and found out that it was in fact ketchup. Looking back, both Eds glared at their dimwitted friend, and addressed accordingly.

"ED!"

"Huh? Uh, it wasn't me guys!"-Ed said, as if he just woke up from some daydreaming, before he asked-"Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah, a big load of knuckle sandwich, ya big—"

"Boy, sure sucks to be you guys huh? Haha ha haa, haha ha haa, haha ha haa, hehehehehe!"-a very high pitched, cackling voice interrupted Eddy.

All three Eds looked above them to see a peculiar sight. Lounging on one of the stalls' signs was a bird with dark blue feathers covering its torso and wings, but with white feathers covering its stomach. It had featherless yellow feet and a pair of white gloves at the end of its wings. Some white feathers formed a collar around its neck. Its head was covered in scarlet red feathers pointing backwards, forming a sort of crest. It also had a sharp-pointed yellow beak and green eyes. The bizarre bird was also eating a hotdog for some reason.

"Ugh, who invited the bird?"-Eddy demanded, being irritated, since he hated birds in general.

"Uhm Eddy?"-Double D drew his friend's attention-"I believe that is the bird known as Woody Woodpecker. You know, the one who causes trouble for those who decide to camp out in the forest."

"Oh, ya mean that pain in the ass weirdo?"-Eddy inquired, but also getting an irritated look from Woody, who heard him.

"Hey! Who're you calling a weirdo, bub?"-Woody asked as he got into Eddy's face and started pecking his flat head really fast. This of course irritated the small Ed-boy and after the woodpecker stopped pecking, Eddy got really angry.

"Why you little—come here!"-Eddy swung his arms around trying to grab the annoying bird, but Woody dodged with ease and flew back up into his perch, though that didn't stop Eddy from trying to get to him.

"Eddy please stop. You know very well you're only encouraging him."-Double D said as he held his short tempered friend back.

"What are you doing here Mr. Woodpecker?"-Ed asked out of the blue, causing Eddy to sees what he's doing as well.

"I'm glad you asked big guy."-Woody said into Ed's face, before pulling back and eating the last bite of his hotdog-"I am here to learn of the wonders of science and technologies. To become a smarter woodpecker then I was yesterday, in hopes to one day create an invention that help revolutionize mankind."

Woody's unexpected speech brought confused looks form the gathered Eds, and Double D wasn't shy about voicing their confusion:

"Really? Is that what you are truly here for Woody?"-there was some hope in Double D's voice, but all but died out, when Woody simply chuckled as if he just made a joke.

"Of course not! I'm just here for the free grub."-He said as he extended his arm off to the side and when he pulled it back, there was a muffin in his hand, which he stashed it away in some invisible pocket on his body-"Plus I should also take some samples too."

"But…why would you need to do that?"-Double D inquired, while the red headed woodpecker kept shoving food into his pockets.

"Well later I've got a date with Winnie/picnic with Knothead and Splinter combo. So I've got to be prepared."-Woody answered

"Well that is quite a nice thing of to do Woody. To have some time to spend with both your friend and your niece and nephew is quite good to be done."-Double D complimented Woody's gesture

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now make like a bee and buzz off bird."-Eddy told Woody in an annoyed tone, which prompted said woodpecker to fly down and put his wing/arm around Eddy's shoulders in a friendly manner.

"Aww, what's the matter squirt? Too busy to have fun with little ol' me?"-Woody asked innocently…after which he pecked Eddy's head once again, before flying off cackling like he did before.

"I think Woody likes you Eddy."-Ed said, which only served to enrage the vertically-challenged Ed-boy even more, as evidenced by his rapidly reddening face.

"Uhm, Eddy…?"-Double D wanted to say something to calm him down, in the end Eddy's head burst into flames.

"THAT FUKING DOES IT!"-Eddy screamed as he took off after the still-cackling woodpecker, with his friends not far behind.

"Eddy wait! What about the presentation?!"-Double D asked

"Where are we going Double D?"-Ed asked as he followed his two friends.

 **XXX**

 _ **Back entrance of the CSRD**_

While the festivities were going on inside, two janitors where busy hauling two large sacks of garbage out and into the trash bins. The problem with these sorts of events is that trash piles up relatively quickly, meaning the janitors have to work overtime.

The first bag went into the bin, but the second one wasn't so lucky, because the two janitors heard the sound of stomping feet heading their way. They looked in the direction it came from and to their horror saw the Wolf Beast barreling towards them. The two workers screamed in fright and quickly hit the deck, as the monster went straight into the large bag of trash and ripped it to pieces, scattering garbage everywhere.

After shaking off a plastic platter off its head, it looked behind itself and saw its pursuers losing in on it.

And indeed the Warrior siblings were flying towards the beast at almost breakneck speed on their hover swords. Sensing the danger, the Wolf Beast went right into the building through the double doors, disappearing behind them.

The two warriors/mercenaries landed on the ground, shrinking down their hoverswords, right after Juniper got of the one Vamber was riding on. That being said, the Te Xuan Ze placed her hands onto her knees to avoid falling down from dizziness.

"H-how…how do you guys fly so fast without getting hurt?"-Juniper asked, as flying at such speeds on a hover board—or in this case a hover _sword_ —is quite dangerous.

"Meh, we were born to do this."-Prohyas said nonchalantly.

"Well, it appears our runaway beasty went into this huge building."-Vamber said, observing the path the beast took.

"That's the CSRD."-Juniper chimed in-"And right now there's a huge convention going on inside with a lot of people gathered."

"Sooo, if that beast finds all those people…"-Prohyas began

"…There is going to be a major bloodbath in there dear brother."-Vamber finished her brother's statement.

"Well then, let's get a move on and stop it before that happens."-Juniper declared as she went to the doubled doors, the Warrior siblings close behind.

 _ **An hour later; center stage**_

An hour came and went as everyone was now gathered around the center stage of the convention, upon which stood the giant machine Dexter has been working on. Many of the patrons who came to the convention where excited about what this machine could possibly be.

At the very front of the herd of people stood Ben, Rex, Jenny, Marco and Star. Jenny was still being nervous since she's now standing so close to the young evo hero, but made sure to keep as calm as possible. A few ways away from the group stood Jack with Steven and the Crystal Gems, of which Steven had stars in his eyes and was bouncing up and down in excitement, while Amethyst was devouring her tenth bowl of ramen…bowl and everything, much to the chagrin of Pearl.

And a few ways away from both groups stood the Powerpuff girls, consisting of Blossom, Buttercup (who looked the same as Blossom, except with green clothes and eyes and short black hair stylized as two horns on the sides of her head) and Bubbles (who looked the same as Blossom and Buttercup, except with light blue clothes and eyes and medium length blonde hair tied into two pigtails).

AT the moment the three stood patiently—except for Buttercup—and talked among themselves.

"So did you meet Dexter before the big event Blossom?"-Bubbles asked innocently, to which her older(?) sister replied:

"Yep. He's been working on his machine, so we didn't have much time to talk though."

"Pfft, yeah sure. But I bet that didn't stop you from giving him a 'good luck kiss'."-Buttercup mocked as she began making kissing sounds, though Blossom had a smug grin on her face.

"Actually I _did_ give him a good luck kiss."

Upon hearing this Buttercup stopped what she was doing and looked shocked at her sister. When she said the whole kiss thing, she meant it as a joke, so she didn't imagine her ister to actually do it.

"…I was just kidding."-Buttercup said

"Well I'm not."-Blossom retorted-"I don't get why you always try to tease me Buttercup when you know perfectly well that it won't work."

"Because that's what sisters do Blossom."-Buttercup retorted-"I bet you'd do the same if I had a boyfriend."

Blossom couldn't come up with a valid enough answer for that, and during this silence, Bubbles chimed in:

"But Buttercup, aren't you jealous that Blossom got a boyfriend before you did?"

At this Blossom couldn't help but giggle, while Buttercup blushed in embarrassment. Before the green powerpuff could say anything else, the lights suddenly dimmed and spotlights shun on the center stage, where Professor Utonium walked up with microphone in hand. The audience clapped, and after raising his hand to quiet everyone down, the professor began his speech:

"Thank you all for coming to the year's science convention here at the CSRD. Now I might be wrong on this, but from what I can tell this convention seems to have become the biggest and most successful thus far."-another round of applause later and the professor continued-"Now as you all know, all the money gathered here will go to our research funds, which will help further our research into better technologies for our future. But I'm sure none of you are here to listen to this, so I won't delay this big moment any longer. Everyone, please give a big round of applause to our youngest elite scientist here at the CSRD: Dexter!"

And a big round of applause happened as Dexter stepped onto the stage, basking in the glory he's being given. Even the Japanese rockstar Amy gave some applause herself, her friend Yumi though, not so much.

After the audience quieted down, Dexter took the offered microphone from the professor, cleared his throat and began speaking:

"Thank you everybody for your grandious applauses, which only serve to reflect the genius in me."-everyone laughed at his joke, before the child prodigy continued-"Now onto more pressing matters."

 _ **With the Eds**_

"Eddy the presentation has already begun!"

"Hey! We're not going anywhere, until I fry that wood pecking chicken!"

"I love chickens Eddy."

The Eds have been chasing the mischievous woodpecker around the entire convention, and oddly enough almost no one seemed to have noticed them—except for a couple of patrons and some janitors. All the while Woody has been making fun of the Eds, especially Eddy, which only angered the little Ed even further.

Even now the Eds were still chasing the little bumble, who was heading straight towards Dexter's presentation. But whether the woodpecker knew this or not is a mystery.

 _ **With Dexter**_

"Now as you may all be aware of by now, this institute is dedicated to the research and development of technologies that could revolutionize modern society and humanity in general. But every once in a while some of us geniuses—like myself—would invent something truly extraordinary just for the heck of it."

 _ **With Juniper, Vamber and Prohyas**_

The three magic heroes followed the monster through a lot of rooms, hallways and labs through almost half of the CSRD building. Now they saw that the beast ran through another pair of doors and ended up in the center hall, where the convention is being held.

The warriors didn't say anything to each other as they continued to chase the rampaging beast and stop it before it could hurt someone.

 _ **With Dexter**_

"But do not get so confused my friends. For I Dexter, boy genius, have created an invention that will be both practical and enjoyable at the same time!

Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues and friends, I give you the worlds very first…DIMENSIONAL PORTAL MACHINE!"

At that moment the entire audience went silent. The only sounds that could be heard were Woody's far away cackling and the also far away sounds of the Wolf Beast's rampage, although nobody paid attention to either.

Once he knew he got everyone's attention, Dexter continued:

"Now I know what you are all thinking: 'what is Dexter talking about?', 'Portals to other dimensions?', 'But those are just works of fiction.'. Well yes that is true…for the most part. However, through extensive research and experimentation I was able to devise a mechanism that could gather just enough quantum energy from the very universe itself, to be able to rip a small hole in the fabric of space. Now as many of my colleagues here at the institute have told me, such a thing could be quite dangerous. Catastrophic even. But I have minimized the risks, and have calculated that if a very small portal can be opened for a maximum of sixty seconds, then there should be no dangers of the fabric of reality collapsing in on itself.

And now that I have summarized for the most part what my ingenious device is capable of, how about a demonstration?"

And with that Dexter turned to his machine, and began pressing buttons and pulling some levers as well as the device began to whirl to life. After a few seconds glowing blue energy began to accumulate inside the metal ring of the device.

The energy particles kept gathering until a prismatic energy field occupied the space inside the ring, which awed the audience.

"Hold on tight now. The fun part is just about to—"

"COMING THROUGH!"

As if someone hit the pause button, everything stopped as red and blue woodpecker shot out of the audience and embedded its beak into the center stage.

Now stuck, Woody tried to dislodge his beak, but then the Eds showed up as well.

"Ha! Got ya now ya little pest!"-Eddy declared as he was ready to jump at the woodpecker, only for Double D to interrupt him.

"Uhm…Eddy…?"

"What?!"-Eddy turned to see the entire audience now looking at them and the Woodpecker behind them.

"Uhm…who are they?"-Jenny asked Star, as her camera which was attached to her right pigtail was still recording

"I don't know."-Star answered, as she narrowed her eyes and rubbed her chin with her right thumb and index finger-"But they look vaguely familiar."

"Star, they're the Eds, from our neighborhood."-Marco deadpanned

"Huh? Oh yeah. Sorry, totally forgot."-Star said in realization

Dexter himself was about to give the Eds a good verbal lashing, until an ungodly roar caused him to look to his right…where he saw the Wolf Beast running straight towards him and the professor.

Seeing this, both men of science jumped off the stage as the wolf monster crashed directly into Dexter's machine. With that everyone started to panic and began running for safety. The Wolf Beast stood up on all fours and looked around, trying to find an escape route as well. The machine behind the beast now had a large dent in its right side and sparks were flying everywhere from it, as the energy field was still active.

By this time everyone got to safety, except for the resident heroes that is. Ben, Rex, Jenny, Star, Marco, Jack, the Crystal Gems, the Powerpuff girls and even Steven took their own fighting stances, surrounding the beast.

The Eds were now in the middle of a possible fight, but some noise in the direction the beast came from drew their attention. That was when the Warriors and Juniper Lee came into view, ready to fight…but not expecting the scene before them.

"Juniper?"-Double D wondered out loud, drawing the Te Xuan Ze's attention

"Double D? What are you doing here?"-Juniper wondered out loud as well

"Well looks like it's a real party going on out here."-Prohyas declared, ignoring his companions interaction with the smart Ed.

"I'm free! Hehehehe."-Woody said as he was finally able to pull his beak out of the stage.

"NO! MY PORTAL GENERATOR MACHINE!"-Dexter yelled, as everyone turned their attention to the now madly sparkling machine.

Now electric currents even started to dance on the machine, mainly its metal ring. The electric currents affected the energy field so much that it now began to swirl and creat a wind current that began to suck everything in.

The Wolf Beast was the first to be absorbed, which seemed to have served to make the portal stronger as it grew in size. As this was happening, everyone present grabbed ahold of something to keep themselves from being sucked as well.

Seeing the professor and Dexter in danger, the Powerpuff girls flew in to save them. Bubble and Buttercup grabbed the professor's arms and Blossom placed her hands underneath Dexter's armpits. They began to fly away, but the wind suddenly picked up again, causing them to be sucked inwards. Bubbles and Buttercup lost their grip on the professor, who landed behind a stall, but Blossom still held onto Dexter with a firm grip.

Now the professor could only watch as all four children were pulled into the portal.

"GIRLS! DEXTER!"

At the left side of the stage Amy and Yumi were holding on for dear life as well.

"Amy! We have to get out of here!"-Yumi shouted over the powerful winds

"I know Yumi! But how?!"-Amy wondered, being frightened out of her mind by this sudden turn of events.

Then some dust blew by them as they started coughing, which distracted them long enough to lose their grip of the stage and both rock stars were pulled into the portal, followed by a screaming Woody.

The Eds were doing their best to stay grounded, and by that I mean Ed held onto both of his friends with one arm as he dug the fingers of his free hand into the ground.

"Keep at it Lumpy! It's gotta be over soon!"-Eddy yelled

Double D managed to open one of his eyes and saw that a table was heading straight to a struggling Juniper Lee. Thinking quickly, Double D dislodged himself from Ed's firm grip, ran straight for the unsuspecting Te Xuan Ze and tackled her away from the incoming table.

Recovering from the tackle, Juniper looked up and saw Double D on top of her…or more exactly, he was straddling her, causing them both to blush.

"Uhm…Double D…?"

"Oh, uh…I-I—"-Double D was interrupted as they both were picked up by the strong winds and were carried into the portal. Before being absorbed, Double D locked his eyes with Jun's and said his possible final words:

"I'M SORRY!"-and then they were both pulled in.

"DOUBLE D!"-Ed and Eddy both screamed in dismay as their friend was gone. That was when a table flew straight for them and slammed into them, causing them to fly into the portal.

Rex managed to turn his legs into giant robot legs which he stuck into the floor. Ben and Marco were both hanging onto Rex's legs for dear life, Marco holding Star close to himself. Rex was also holding Jenny close, as the robot girl busted out her pigtail rockets and jetpack and blasted into the opposite direction, trying get away from the portal. But nothing was proving to work, as Rex felt his legs being pulled out of the ground.

Realizing this could be their last moments together, Jenny decided to tell Rex something:

"UHm…listen Rex, if we don't survive this…there's something I've been meaning to tell you!"

"Hey! We are NOT saying adios to each other!"-Rex said determinedly-"We'll survive this! I promise!"

"But Rex!"-Jenny said back-"I have to tell you that—"

Before she could finish however, Rex's legs were finally pulled out and all of them flew directly into the portal.

Let's not forget about the Warriors now, shall we? They were holding on for their dear lives onto their hover swords, which they stabbed into the floor. But like with everybody else their grip was slipping, and it would only be a matter of time before the portal would suck them in as well.

"Well, I think this is it Prohyas!"-Vamber declared as tears began to form in her eyes-"I just wish we would've had the chance to say goodbye to mommy and daddy and Grup and princess Zangie!"

"Well, if this really is going to be our last moments together, there's…something I've been meaning to tell you sis!"-Prohyas said nervously, and when Vamber fixed her teary eyes on him, he blurted out his confession-"I'M THE ONE WHO TOOK THE SHOOTING STAR MAGISWORD FROM YOUR ROOM! I WANTED TO TAKE IT WITH ME ON A SOLO QUEST!"

And upon hearing this, whatever sadness Vamber had, disappeared in an instant as her face became the picture of ferocity.

"You?!"-Vamber shouted as she let go of her hover sword and grabbed Prohyas by his scarf, causing him to let go of his hover sword as well. Before they were both absorbed into the portal, Vamber stopped shaking her brother and shouted:

"Prohyas! If we won't die I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

And with that the Warrior siblings were absorbed, followed shortly by their hover swords.

And finally, Jack stabbed his sword into the ground as well and hold onto it as best as he could, while holding a frightened Steven under his other arm. A further ahead of them were the Crystal Gems who had their respective weapons already drawn and were using them to ancor themselves to the ground as the portal just wouldn't stop growing and sucking things in.

"Samurai Jack! Whatever you do, don't let go of Steven!"-Garnet shouted

"Do not worry, I won't!"-Jack responded

"Oh man! This is turning into a real pain in the ass!"-Amethyst complained and Pearl would've chastised her for her choice of language, but now wasn't the time for that.

The gems held on as long as they could, but after about a minute or so, the suctioning force of the portal proved to be too much even for them. And so they were pulled off the ground and flew directly towards the portal.

Unfortunately because Steven and Jack were in the way, the slammed into them, forcing Jack's katana to slide out of the ground, and now they were all flying into the portal.

But something weird happened.

The moment the Crystal Gems reached the mouth of the wormhole, their gems shined a bright light as dark red, purple and white electric currents blasted out of them and struck the mouth of the portal. After a few seconds there was a bright flash of light and when it died down, the portal vanished as the sound of thunder still echoed in the air.

The professor pulled himself out of what remained of the stall he was hiding behind to witness a gruesome sight. Everything was a mess; stall destroyed, hard worked inventions either gone or demolished and Dexter's portal machine was also dead and smoking.

But the worst part, was that his little girls, his science friend, the Eds, the woodpecker, the wolf monster and all of the heroes who were present, were all gone.

' _Girls…Dexter…everyone…gone…'_ -the professor thought, as tears began to form in his eyes.

 **XXX**

 _ **The Veil; The Frozen Fortress**_

" _Leave!"_ -the raspy voice of an old man yelled as more rocks, ice and whatever other debris fell down, nearly hitting the hooded stranger in the process.

But he was very good at climbing, so that never happened.

After a while, the stranger managed to reach the top of the ledge he was climbing, ready to continue on his way. But he suddenly stopped, as he felt a sudden wave of cosmic energy pass by him. He looked in the direction the energy came from, and surprisingly it was the direction he was supposed to go to.

Narrowing his eyes at the possible danger ahead, the rider began stalking forward, always on guard, and always ready to strike.

' _Hmm…why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret finding whatever is down this path?'_

 _ **Prologue part 1 end**_

 _ **To be continued**_

 **A/N: Hey guys! Now before I let you all go, allow me to clear a things or two up. Firstly, YES I am fully aware that Death didn't wear a cloak in the game, but I've seen him don one in one of the 'Darksiders' comics and remembered that it looked really cool, so I decided to add it anyway. I also don't want this story to sound TOO much like the game itself, or else it might get taken down, I don't want that.**

 **Secondly if any of you—and by that I'm sure I mean ALL of you—don't know who Woody Woodpecker is, then do yourselves a favor and go watch the cartoon. The full episodes are on YouTube now, so go ahead and watch them, trust me you won't be disappointed.**

 **Well that's it for now, in the next chapter the action's gonna pick up with a little fight or two (but not between Death and the selected characters YET), so stay tuned for the next entry, and I will see you all next time. La revedere.**


	2. Deadly Encounter

**Deadly encounter! The journey begins**

The first thing Ben felt when his consciousness stopped being on a vacation, was a splitting headache.

Groaning over this unpleasant feeling, Ben attempted to reach his right hand up to his head, but found an unusual weight on it. Managing to flutter his eyes open he was first greeted with the color of ice blue. After fluttering his eyes for a few more seconds, Ben realized that he was indeed surrounded by ice. But before he could fully assess the situation, he turned to see what the mysterious weight on his hand was. Which surprisingly turned out to be a teenage girl, probably as old as himself, with short purple hair. Judging by the hair color and her punkish outfit, he guessed she must be one of the rock stars from Megaville. Yumi, if he remembered correctly.

' _But…what the hell's a rock star doing here?'_ -Ben asked, even though he realized that the answer was painfully obvious.

"Ugh…"-Yumi's groaning snapped the shapeshifting hero out of his thoughts, for as soon as she began moving, he quickly pulled his hand away from her.

The two slowly got up into a sitting, while rubbing their heads to somewhat sooth the headaches. Once some of the pain was gone, Ben got up to his knees and continued assessing the situation. He noticed that he was inside some kind of gigantic cavern. The cavern itself was covered in ice, and there were also some loose pieces of wood here and there, as if they were part of some kind of frozen ruin.

Ben also noticed that all around him there were people waking up. But not just any people, these were people Ben knew. Rex, Star, Marco, Jenny, Jack, Steven, the Powerpuff girls, Dexter the Eds, Juniper Lee and even the annoying woodpecker. Everyone who was at the site of when Dexter's dimensional machine thing went haywire after some kind of wolf monster smashed into it.

Turning back to the rock star next to him, Ben got up to his feet and went to the purple haired girl to give her a hand:

"Hey there. Let me help you up."

Yumi looked up to the green jacket-wearing boy and after a second she realized that it was none other than Ben 10, super hero. Her shock only lasted a couple of seconds, before she hesitantly took the offered hand, which guided her up to her feet.

"Uhm, thanks…"-Yumi said with uncertainty, since she doesn't normally show gratitude to anyone.

"No prob."-Ben said, his kind smile never going away-"Say, are you by any chance Yumi, from the Puffy AmiYumi rock band?"

Before Yumi could answer, Ami beat her to the punch-"Hai! And I'm Ami, we're both from the band! It's very nice to finally meet you in person Mr. Ben 10!"

Her excitement made Ben take a step back, but quickly realized, that she was probably another one of his—crazy—fans.-"Hehe, yeah nice to meet you too. But just call me Ben. 'Mr.' makes me feel like some old dude."

"Okay. Sooo…"-Ami started, as she pulled out a purple pen and what looked like a pink notebook from seemingly out of nowhere-"Can I have your autograph onegaishimasu?!"

That question caused Yumi to facepalm and Ben to chuckle nervously.

"Hey will ya keep it down! This headache is killing me."-Eddy complained as he was rubbing his flat head.

"YOU!"-a voice shouted as Eddy was suddenly tackled by a very angry looking Dexter-"WHY did you and your stuuupid friends had to come today of all times to the CSRD?! Now my machine is destroyed and it's all YOUR fault!"

"Hey what the heck are ya talkin' about, ya crazy dwarf?! And get the heck off o' me, will ya?!"-Eddy demanded as he tried in vain to get the shorter boy off him.

"Dexter stop it!"-Blossom said as she flew over to the fighting boys and grabbed and pulled the genius one away-"You shouldn't be acting like this Dexter. It wasn't anybody's fault, it was just an accident. And besides, we live in Megaville. We should've expected something like a monster to suddenly appear."

Dexter looked away from his girlfriend's scowl, even though he knew full well—right from the get-go even—that it wasn't Eddy's fault. It was that canine abomination's fault. But the boy genius attacked the conniving Ed-boy since he—along with his friends sometimes—would often ruin his inventions almost as much as his sister would.

Realizing his mistake he sighed in shame and said-"You're right Blossom, as always. I'm sorry."

"You know it's not me you should apologize to."-the pink powerpuff said, while gesturing with her head towards Eddy, who was being helped up by his friends.

"Ah, screw your apologies, ya little twerp!"-Eddy snapped, receiving a slap to the head by Double D.

"Hmpf, like I would apologize to some knuckle-dragging iiiidiot like you."-Dexter retorted, crossing his arms and turning away from the angry Ed-boy.

Blossom could only facepalm at this response. After arriving to Megaville and befriending the boy genius, Blossom noticed that him and Eddy always seemed to be at odds with each other. While Dexter did tell her about his fearsome rivalry with Mandark, she noticed a continuing pattern between the two boys: Eddy would always wreck whatever impressive invention Dexter made, and Dexter in turn would always humiliate Eddy with another invention. And this cycle kept going and going, leading the smart girl to realize that those two became rivals at some point, and never noticed.

Meanwhile Rex was starting to wake up as well, but he felt something cold wrapped around his waist. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of Jenny holding onto his waist tightly, just as she was when they were pulled into the wormhole. Feeling a bit awkward right now due to the position they were in, Rex decided to wake her up.

"Hey uhm, Jenny? Wake up."-as if to respond to his request, Jenny's eyes flared to life, as all her systems began functioning again. Shaking her head a few times, she looked up and saw Rex's smiling face.

"R-Rex? You're alive. And so am I…"-Jenny said with some uncertainty, thinking that this could be just an illusion, or she could be in robot heaven.

"Yep, we're still alive and kickin'."-Rex said jovially-"So I guess…you can let go of me now."

Raising a metallic eyebrow, Jenny looked down and only now did she notice that she was still hugging the teen evo.

"EEP! I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was still holding onto you I-"

"Hey, hey it's all right Jen. No harm done after all, right?"-Rex said calming her down, though he did notice the weird blush on her face.

"Hey, if you two are done arguing like an old married couple, how about you start figuring out what happened and where are we."-Buttercup demanded as she and Bubbles floated towards their sister and her boyfriend.

Blossom looked behind her sisters and saw Rex, Jenny, Star and Marco approaching them, with Jenny trying to look anywhere but at Rex and having a noticeable blue blush on her metallic cheeks.

"Yeah Dex. I mean, it was your invention, so you gotta have some kind of idea about what happened, right?"-the evo hero asked, also anxious to know where did they ended up, which he honestly hoped was Antarctica and not where he thinks they might be.

Dexter adopted a thinking pose and after a minute of thinking he began talking, while looking around-"Well, the device I built was meant to open portals to other dimensions, and since a very powerful wormhole materialized soon after its activation, the only possible conclusion I can come up with is that we must have traveled to another dimension."

This response was met with silence…for a few seconds, before the silence itself was shattered by an ear-piercing-"WHAT!"-by a short Ed, a woodpecker, a green powerpuff, a karate kid and an often rude rock star.

"Are you saying we're stranded in some other world far away from our home?!"-Woody asked, his tone ripe with panic.

"Look nerd boy _please_ tell me you know how to get us out of here!"-Yumi demanded, having an angry look, but also panicking inside

"Yumi please calm down. This isn't helping us with anything."-Ami tried to calm her friend, but to no avail.

"Clam down? CALM DOWN?! Ami how the hell am I supposed to calm down?! We're stranded on some other world or whatever, where we could die any time now and I don't know about you, but I DON'T want to—"

 ***SLAP***

Thinking quickly, Ami slapped Yumi in the face, cutting off her rant and also silencing her in the process.

"Ooooh, harsh, don't ya think?"-Star inquired, wincing at the site of the red handprint on Yumi's right cheek.

"I had to think fast, so I did it out of reflex."-Ami said, trying to justify her action.

"It's okay Ami. I kinda needed that. Arigato."-Yumi reassured her cheerful friend, while rubbing her injury.

"At any rate, Ami-san is right about one thing."-Jack stated, drawing everyone's attention to him-"Panicking will only yield more troubles than solutions. So for now we should all calm down, put our heads together and think of a way to return to our own world."

After a moment of silence, Rex spoke up first-"Welp, Jack's got a point. First thing to do should be to figure out a way to get out of this ice box."

"Uhm Rex…"-Star said, poking the evo on the shoulder, who turned to see her waving her decorated scissors in the air-"Dimensional scissors. Remember?"

"Oh, right…"-Rex said, forgetting that the Mewnian princess had those things with her.

After that, Star drew a line in the air with one of the scissor's blades…and nothing happened. No seriously, nothing happened, which shocked both Star and Marco. Star of course started waving her scissors around, trying to get them to open a portal home—or maybe even to Mewni—but every time nothing happened.

"Aaargh! Why won't this stupid scissor work?!"-Star demanded, directing a fierce glare at the item in question.

"Uhm, excuse me, but what in the name of Einstein are you doing?"-Dexter inquired, on the grounds that he never witnessed a dimensional scissor in action.

"Well Star's trying to open up a portal with her dimensional scissors,"-Marco began elaborating, until he saw Star still trying in vane to do said task-"…aaand it's not working."

"Gaah!"-having enough of her scissors not working, Star threw it away, then looked towards Marco with an angry expretion-"MARCO! Give me your scissors!"

"I-I can't Star! I left mine at home, remember?"-Marco said, while taking a few steps away from his now crazed friend.

Before things could escalate any further Jenny gently grabbed her friend's shoulder-"Hey Star calm down. I'm sure there's a good reason why your scissors aren't working, but you can't take it out on poor Marco. It's not even his fault."

Hearing her best friend's words snapped Star out of her anger, and with a shameful expration she looked at her secret crush and said-"Marco I…I'm sorry. I guess I just…got scared that my scissors aren't working anymore."

"Hey don't worry about it Star. I'm sure we'll figure out what's going on eventually."-Marco reassured his best friend, with a hand on her shoulder, making her smile.

*AHEM*

Dexter once again drew everyone's attention to him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this rather touching moment (even though I still do not fully comprehend what is going on) we still need to find a right way to return to our designated dimension. Also-"-he quickly turns his gaze towards Vamber and Prohyas, who were somehow hiding in the background-"-who are those two individuals? I do not think I recognize them."

Feeling slightly nervous now that everyone's attention was directed to them, Prohyas decided to take the initiative:

"Uh hey there everybody. I'm Prohyas Warrior and this is my sister, Vamber. We're-"

"The Warriors for Hire, and you're from the kingdom of Rhyboflaven, right?"-Ben asked, drawing surprised looks from both adventurers.

"H-how do you know who we are?"-Vamber inquired-"We rarely visit Megaville, and when we do, it's just so we can buy some things we can't find in Rhyboflaven."

"Oh the Plumbers have some files on the place, and also about you two."-Ben answered nonchalantly-"I took a peek at them, when my grandpa wasn't looking."

"Oh."-Vamber and Prohyas said in realization.

"Yeah, we also heard about you two."-Buttercup added-"We sometimes fly over your kingdom when we go out of town. You guys also collect weird sword things, right?"

"Actually they're called magiswords. And yes we do, because they are awesome, and they have cool powers, liiiike…"-Prohyas explained as he drew forth-"…my Dolphin Magisword."

And indeed it was an actual dolphin with a sword handle instead of a normal tail, which made some clicking noises once it was unsheathed. And off course this drew the attention of some of the members of this 'team'.

"EEEE! IT's so cute!"-Bubbles said excitedly as she whizzed right up to the Warrior-"Can I hug it? Can I? Can I?"

"Hehehe, sure, why not? But just be gentle, she bruises easily."-Prohyas requested as he handed over his prized sword over to the blue powerpuff, who hugged the living weapon gently. And the sword itself sounded like it was actually purring.

"Oooh, I get to hug it next!"-Star declared, stepping behind Bubbles

While this was oh so entertaining for the two girls—even Ami, who wanted a chance to hug the Dolphin Magisword after Star—many members of this group thought that this was just a waste of time.

"Okay, so you've got a sword that looks like a dolphin. Big deal."-Woody spoke up first, still worried about the concept of being dimensionally displaced.

"The bird is right."-Dexter added-"You've told us who you two are, but you haven't told us how you ended up being here with the rest of us."

At this, the Warrior siblings looked at each other in worry. They feared that if they had to tell them that—technically—they were responsible for leading the Wolf Beast to the convention, they would end up being punished severally. Especially since many of the group are renowned super heroes with super powers that put their magiswords to shame.

"Uh, well…we…that is…uh…we-"

"It was an accident."-Juniper Lee voiced her claim, interrupting the siblings' drabble, and drawing everyone's attention to her.

"Juniper dear, you don't have to-"-Vamber tried to tell the young warrior, but she simply ignored her and continued

"We were supposed to take care of a nasty wolf monster in the forest outside the city. But it ran straight for the CSRD and, well you guys know the rest."

"So, the presence of that beast…it was because of you three?"-Jack inquired in his usual soft tone, making it hard to tell if he was angry or just curious.

"Yes."-Jun simply said-"…but only because I wasn't careful enough."

"Jun, you now it's not true."-Prohyas said, leaving his precious Dolphin Magisword in the arms of Star Butterfly-"Vamber and I are pros at dealing with monsters, so we should've done better now too. But we didn't. We screwed up, big time, and now we are all in this mess, because of us being sloppy."

"Prohyas…"-Vamber said, shocked that her brother would be so quick as to cast the blame onto himself—and her as well, but she didn't count that—instead of another.

"But _I'm_ the Te Xuan Ze. It's my job to handle dangerous magical creatures."-Juniper countered, not expecting the Warriors to start up an argument.

"But we were _paid_ to get rid of that thing and-"

"Okay, okay, can you guys just stop already?"-Rex interjected, since this was getting them nowhere-"Why don't we make it like it's nobody's fault and move on?"

"Rex is right."-Double D said, turning all of the attention to himself, making him slightly nervous-"Uhm, w-what's done is done, and since w-we can't do much of anything about it, w-we should probably just return to our present task of figuring out a way to…return…home…"

Everyone just stared at him, since it was obvious that that's what they were going to do, regardless of who's fault it might've been.

"Wait-a-go sock-head."-Eddy sarcastically said, even clapping Double D's back mockingly.

"Anyway…"-Marco said, trying to break the sudden awkward tension-"Dexter, please tell me you've got something in your lab coat that could get us out of here."

The child prodigy in question looked at the Hispanic karate kid with half-lidded eyes that were just screaming-'Seriously?'

"Do I look like I have such big pockets on me Marco Diaz?"-Dexter inquired, his patience regarding the situation beginning to run thin-"That device was the only one of its kind on the planet. I was only able to run computer simulations on it back in my lab. The show from the convention was supposed to be a true field test, one in which I never calculated the possibility of having it be destroyed by a rampaging monster."-Dexter finished his sentence by sending a glare at the Warrior siblings and Juniper, before continuing-"So no, my friend. I did not create a counter-measure device for something like-"

"GUYS! I NEED YOUR HELP!"-a distressed shout from Steven—who had been unconscious up until now—forced Dexter to stop mid rant and turn to see the young half-gem.

Everyone looked in the direction the cry came from and saw Steven running towards the group with something being held in his hands.

"Steven, what is wrong? What happened?"-Jack asked with concern, especially since he didn't see the Crystal Gems with the boy.

Steven stopped in front of the samurai and explained-"It's the gems Mr. Jack. They puffed when we got pulled into that portal thingy, and now they won't come out of their gems."

To prove his point, Steven presented the contents in his hands to the samurai and everybody else: a pearl, an amethyst, a ruby and a sapphire. Jack now looked even more concerned, since from what he knew the crystal gems would never revert into their gem forms unless they suffer an injury that would normally kill a human. Although he did see some large form of energy come out of the gems as soon as they reached the mouth of the portal, so perhaps the wormhole itself was at fault here.

But he wasn't the only one who was concerned. Ben, Rex and the rest of the heroes also looked a little worried, since the gems might just be able to help them, if they ended up fighting something here. Not only that, but some of them were also friends with the living space minerals.

"Hmm, let me have a look, please."-Dexter offered, as he held out his hand towards Steven. Although he was hesitant at first, Steven remembered that this was Dexter he was talking to, and if anyone could figure out what happened to the gems, then he would.

And so Steven carefully relinquished Amethyst's gem to the boy genius, who began to examine it closely. After a few seconds of examining the purple gemstone in his hand, Dexter handed it back to Steven before asking:

"Tell me, did something occur when you and the Crystal Gems were in close proximity with the wormhole or inside of it."

Steven was unsure how to answer that question properly, but luckily Jack managed that part.-"I was there as well when Steven and his guardians were pulled into the portal, and I saw great amounts of energy being released from the Crystal Gems'…well gems."

At this Dexter took a moment to think about it, and after a moment he spoke one more-"Well, it might be possible that the quantum energy from the portal might have affected the gems' own energy, thereby causing an unpresidented reaction."

"Could that be the reason why there isn't a giant whole in the universe above our heads?"-Jenny asked, having paid much attention to Dexter's explanation.

"Exactly Miss XJ9."-Dexter answered-"The level of energy that the gems lost during this process must have been enough to sap them of even their physical forms as well."

"Sooo…are they gonna be okay?"-Steven asked, having a somewhat rudimentary idea of what the boy genius just explained to him.

"Off course my dear Steven."-Dexter said encouragingly, putting a hand onto the half gem's shoulder-"Just give them some time to recharge their energy and they will be back to normal once again. Although it might take a while longer than it would normally take for them to replenish their energy supplies, but-"

Dexter's explanation was cut short, as the gems from Steven's hands began to glow brightly. The four minerals then floated out of Steven's hands and generated clouds of energy out of themselves. By this point everyone was gazing at the 'light show' with awe, since none of them ever saw a gem reform.

Within a few seconds each gem created a basic human shape, after which it began adding the individual details to the respective crystal gems. While Pearl's and Amethyst's bodies were almost finished reforming, it was the ruby and sapphire gems that were behaving peculiarly. At first the two gems formed two separate small bodies, but before even the details could be added, the human shaped energy fields immediately fused together mid-reforming. While he did live with the Crystal Gems for a long time, Steven had a sneaking suspicion that something like this never happened before.

After a full minute, the entire trio of the Crystal Gems had been reformed, and were now trying to keep themselves upright so as to not topple over.

"Uhhh, what on Earth happened?"-Pearl inquired, massaging her head and gem.

"Ugh, I don't know."-Amethyst answered-"But my gem feels like it's been run over by a monster truck twenty times."

The two gems looked to Garnet for some impute, but before they could, two small arms somehow wrapped around their waists. The two looked down and saw a teary eyed Steven hugging them as tightly as he could, as if they'd disappear again if he let go.

"Steven what's the matter? Why are you crying?"-Pearl asked with concern, getting down to Steven's level after getting out of the hug.

"B-because…because…BECAUSE I THOUGHT I LOST YOU GUYS!"-Steven shouted out, drawing shocked looks from the gems.

Seeing their confused looks Steven calmed himself down enough to explain-"A-after we were pulled into that…thing, you three started glowing like Christmas lights, and then the way back got closed and I blacked out, and when I woke up you guys were in gem form and I thought that…that…"

While Steven couldn't finish his sentence, the gems understood what the boy was talking about. The young gem must've gotten scared after what happened and started assuming the worst. It was times like these, that the gems often forget that Steven's still a child. And children often become scared and distressed when something unexpected happens to someone they care about.

"Steven,"-Garnet said softly, as Steven looked up and saw her being right in front of him-"you don't have to worry about a thing. Remember, we survived closer calls then this, even before you were born."-she then leaned down closer with a small smile on her face-"So wipe those tears away. It's not good for a boy to cry when there are other boys around."

Steven couldn't help but chuckle at what Garnet said, and after quickly wiping his tears away, he gave the tall gem a hug. Garnet returned it, even getting up to her full height and holding Steven in her arms.

Pearl and Amethyst couldn't help but smile at this touching site, but-"Yeah, yeah, yeah, really touching. Now can we get back to figuring out a way out of here?"-Eddy had to be the one to interrupt the moment, which earned him heavy glares from everyone-"What?"

"Eddy…"-Double D tried to say something, but was unable to formulate the proper words for this behavior, so he just sighed in frustration.

"Yeah Eddy, nobody likes a sowerpuss."-Ed added, in a rare moment of seriousness.

Before the short Ed-boy could further question what his friends were talking about, Marco decided to speak up before things would start to escalate.

"Uh, I hate to admit it, but Eddy's got a point. We should hold off on the celebrations until after we get back to our world."

That off course drew the attention of two gems.

"Whoa, time out there bro."-Amethyst said-"What the heck do ya mean 'back to our world'?"

At this Marco could only look at the stout gem with half-lidded eyes-"We're in another world, because of the portal from Dexter's machine that pulled us in at the science convention. Ring any bells yet?"

It took a moment for her to comprehend Marco's words and when she did, Amethyst's had a look that was a mixture of excitement, wonder and fright. Although Pearl's expression was much easier to figure out:

"WHAT?!"-see what I mean-"Are you saying we truly are in another world?! I thought we were only transported to the arctic, but to be actually sent to another dimension is…is…INSANE!"

"Miss Pearl, please calm yourself."-Jack tried to tell the panicking gem.

"Yeah tutts."-Woody said, popping up from behind Pearl's left shoulder-"You ain't the only one who's freaked out about this. But we already established that this isn't gonna help us any."

"Pearl."-Garnet's voice forced her to turn to the leader, who was still holding a concerned Steven-"The samurai and woodpecker are both right. Panicking won't solve anything, so just keep your cool, and we will all be alright."

Even though Garnet's face remained neutral, Pearl knew that she meant every word she said. So after taking a few deep breaths, the white gem nodded to Jack and Woody, silently telling them that she had calmed herself down.

"Well, now that we got that out of the way,"-Ben said-"Did ya manage to think of something during all this was happening Dex?"

The boy genius in question, closed his eyes in thought and after a moment he spoke-"To be honest, without my tools, equipment or any technological materials at all, I cannot possibly think of a way to-"

"Oh cool! Check this out guys!"-Ed shouted from one of the ends of the chamber

The large and dumb Ed-boy was able to sneak away from the group and his two best friends while no one was looking, and was now standing in front of a large chunk of ice. But upon closer inspection, he was staring at something _inside_ the ice.

That something was the skeletal corpse of what looked to be a human, although much of it couldn't be seen, due to the ice.

But being quite the distance away from him, the others couldn't see what Ed was seeing.

"Ugh, could you two _please_ control your imbecile of a friend?"-Dexter told the remaining two Eds with an annoyed scowl.

Before Eddy could give a proper retort, Double D called out to their wondering friend-"ED! Please come back here! This is no time to be wondering around!"

He was about to get closer to him, until Buttercup raced past him and beat him to the punch.

"Hey big guy! Didn't ya hear? We're supposed to stick together or something, so come on."-but the green powerpuff's orders fell on deaf ears, as Ed simply turned to her and said:

"But Buttercup, there is a cool looking guy inside the ice. Like from my comic book 'Attack of the frozen Zombies from my refrigerator'."

Ed's last comment may have sounded stupid, but the first part did get Buttercup's attention—even if it sounded a bit absurd. So the young super heroin took a closer look at the ice and true enough, she saw a body frozen inside. Normally she would be slightly freaked out when seeing something like this, but for some reason she just couldn't stop starring at the body inside the solidified water.

But after a moment, something strange happened: the skull of the cadaver turned its head slightly, looking directly at Buttercup.

This of course startled Buttercup, who quickly backed away from the chunk of ice. The ice itself started to shake slightly, until the shaking became more and more visible, as if the—apparently living—body was trying to escape. Sensing a possible threat coming up, Buttercup grabbed the back of Ed's coat and pulled him back, the big lug simply saying-"Cool."-while his eyes never left the ice chunk.

But when Buttercup returned to the group with the dimwit Ed-boy, she noticed that everybody was standing back to back, as if they were ready for an attack. A quick look around revealed why.

All around the chamber there were multiple chunks of ice shaking like crazy, obviously loaded with more cadavers. After a whole tense minute, a crack was heard and then one of the ice chunks broke apart. Shortly after the other ice chunks broke apart as well and the heroes soon found out what was inside of them.

Surrounding our brave heroes were human skeletons, whose bones were black and dark blue colored, with ice covering a few areas of their bodies. The skeletons were wearing scattered pieces of armor on various parts of their bodies and they each held different kinds of weapons—from swords, to axes and hammers—indicating that they are warriors. The most haunting site however were the eyes. They glowed a cyan blue and the eyeballs looked to be made of energy and the longer the heroes looked at them, the more they got the feeling that the skeletons were gazing into their souls.

At the moment everybody was standing still, nobody daring as to so much as breath, lest they wish to cause a frenzy. Then, just a few feet away from the heroes, a very large, skeletal hand popped out of the ground. Grabbing onto the floor to push the rest of its body up, the entity revealed itself to be another frost skeleton, but this one looked different.

Standing up, it was much taller than the rest of the frost skeletons, with much heavier armor covering its body. It also had a horned, Viking helmet on its head. After getting itself out of the ground, the large frost skeleton pulled out what could only be described as a giant mace. It was a long dark blue rod, the bottom tipped with a light blue crystal sharpened to a point. The top of the rod had four curved blade-like structures each studded with two sharp crystals.

Those of the group with more battle experience figured this one was probably the leader. A general perhaps.

The frost general held its mighty mace beside itself as it stared intently at the heroes, as if it was studying them. Thinking that the silence was reaching ridiculously creepy levels, Prohyas decided to take the initiative:

"Uhh…hey there dude."-no sooner had the warrior spoke did the frost general direct its gaze at him. Prohyas got startled for a bit, but continued nonetheless-"Uh, we were just wondering if you could direct us to the nearest dimensional portal thingy, so we could uh…go home?"

The silence that followed was more awkward than creepy, as everyone from the group—minus Ed—directed a look to Prohyas that said-'Are you f*** serious?'

"And you two are supposed to be related?"-Dexter inquired from Vamber, who was blushing heavily with embarassement over what her brother is doing.

"Prohyas get your stupid ass back here this instant!"-Vamber hissed as she drew froth her Lobsterclaw Magisword—which was literally just a large red crustaceous claw on a hilt—and used it to pull Prohyas back.

Once that was taken care of, the frost general spoke for the first time in a hollow, ghostly voice, that sent shivers down everyone's spines, even the gems'.

" _Trespassers must die."_ -and with that the general lifted its mace and pointed it at the heroes- _"Kill them."_

Having heard their command, the undead soldiers began slowly advancing towards the heroes.

"Oh man, this would be so cool if it weren't so scary at the same time."-Steven said with fright evident in his voice

"Pfft, don't worry so much Steven, we got this."-Ben reassured the young gem-"After all, we've faced uglier badies then these guys."

"Don't be too cocky Ben."-Jack said, while drawing his katana-"Make sure you stay on your guard at all times."

"Jack is right."-Garnet said as she placed Steven down and behind her and materialized her gauntlets-"These are some new enemies and they might have some tricks up their sleeves."

"Yeah, if they have any sleeves. Hahahaha!"-Amethyst laughed as she pulled her black, crystal studded whip out of her gemstone.

"Amethyst please take this more seriously!"-Pearl chided her comrade as she drew her lance out of her gemstone

"Whatever. Point is we got this in the bag."-Rex declared as he created his giant robot fists-"So, what do you guys say?"

"Well I say…"-Ben began as he activated the selection ring on his omnitrix-"IT'S HERO TIME!"

And with that Ben slammed the faceplate of the watch down, causing a great flash of green light, and when it dissipated in Ben's place stood-

" **Diamond Head**!"

And that was also when the frost skeletons charged forward with fierce growls and weapons raised.

The first to strike was Rex, who threw his right fist forward, sending several frost skeletons back a few feet. The rest of the undead were unfazed by the sudden attack and just went forward, but that was okay with Rex, since he swung his left fist and sucker-punched another handful of skeletons away. Rex continued this pattern of swing and hit, but was unaware of a frost skeleton sneaking up to him, ready to strike him down with a jagged-bladed sword.

But luckily for the teen evo, he has a metal angel watching over him, as Jenny destroyed the frost skeleton with her own giant fists, drawing Rex's attention at the same time.

"Wow, thanks Jen. Guess I'm happy to have you around, watching my back."

"Uh, y-yeah. Right."-Jenny said nervously, before a frost skeleton got the jump on her and wrapped its bony arms around her metal body from behind. This of course annoyed the living daylights out of the teenage robot, as she so aptly expressed her discomfort-"Let GO OF ME!"-and with that she turned around and smashed the unfortunate undead between her large fists.

In another part of the room, Diamond Head was having no trouble fending off the skeletons, since whenever they swung at him with their weapons, he wouldn't feel any pain, due to his crystalized body. Although he did feel a slight bit of pain when the strikes become excesive.

Anyway, he just destroyed the skull of a hammer wielding skeleton, then shot several crystal shards at a group of them to his left.-"Pfft, these guys are way too easy. I mean c'mon. They're not even trying."-Ben complained as he started sliced through the hordes of undead after turning his hands into crystal blades.

"Don't get over confident Ben!"-Jack ordered, as he parried a sword from one of the skeletons. He then pushed it back and sliced it horizontally at the hip-"Remember, these minions might have some trickeries hidden away. Do not let your guard down!"-and as he finished what he was saying, he back to parrying a skeleton with an axe.

"Whatever Jack."-Ben said nonchalantly as he kept destroying one skeleton after the other-"I think you worry too much."

 ***SMACK***

And that was when Diamond Head's face became best buds with a giant hammer. The crystal alien rolled on the ground a few times, before stopping at the feet of another skeleton with an axe. The two undead assailants now stood over the recovering Diamond Head and were ready to crush him with their weapons.

…until they were destroyed by a pair of red energy beams.

Looking up, Ben saw Blossom descending from above, and he quickly deduced that she was the one who helped him.

"Uh…thanks Blos, but you know I could've handled it, right?"

"I'm sure you could've Ben."-Blossom said, before frowning and started chiding the shapeshifter-"But Jack is right. You should really be more careful, or else your reckless behavior is gonna be the death of you."

Ben was about to retort when some skeletons exploded behind him, their remains flying past him. Looking behind himself, Ben saw Buttercup having her arms crossed and a smug grin on her face.

"Actually, keep being reckless Ben. That just means I can beat up more monsters 'behind your back'."-Buttercup gloated as she punched a Skeleton behind her, without even turning to look.

Diamond Head narrowed his yellow eyes at the powepuff's declaration-"Oh, is that a challenge? Okay than let's see which one of us can smash the most bone heads."

"Right! And the loser has to do whatever the winner tells them."-Buttercup added.

"You're on."-Ben said, as he went to get a head start, while Buttercup flew off to score her own points.

And this left Blossom hovering above the ground, while sighed in exasperation at what she just witnessed-"Why do I even bother?"-she asked no one in particular as she flew off to fight some other skeletons.

Meanwhile, the Warriors were having the time of their lives, cutting down frozen undead, using their magiswords, and having fun while doing it.

"Vamber this is totally AWESOME!"-Prohyas shouted excitedly as he sliced and diced skeletons left and right with his Chainsaw Magisword

"Oh I know dear brother!"-Vamber responded, while using her Frog-missile Magisword to fire frog-rocket projectiles at the skeletons.-"This is way more exciting then what we normally deal with. ***BOOM goes another skeleton*** It's too bad we won't get another new magisword at the end of this."

"Who the heck cares! Let's just have fun while there's still skeleton dudes to slay!"-Prohyas claimed as he sliced apart three skeletons with one swipe.

Vamber smiled, agreeing with her brother's suggestion. She fired another frog missile at another group of frost skeletons before casting her gaze towards the frost general. The frozen leader simply stood in place, not moving an inch, its glowing eyes never leaving the battlefield.

' _I know I shouldn't.'_ -Vamber thought- _'But if I do it, then maybe it'll end this fight, which wouldn't be so fun though…Sorry Prohyas.'_

Making up her mind, Vamber fired a frog missile at the frost general…who simply razed its armored left hand causing the missile to explode on impact. The bluenette looked on as the smoke cleared only to be greeted by the sight of the general still having his hand raised and still looking at the fight before it, but otherwise without even a scratch on its body.

Vamber's eyes widened and turned white due to shock, but she quickly returned to her senses as another group of skeletons surrounded her.

' _Well, so much for that idea.'_ -Vamber thought, as she replaced her Frog-missile Magisword with-

" **EXPLODING BUBBLE MAGISWORD!** "

Yeah, that.

She was about to get back to fighting, when something landed hard on the first two skeletons in front of her. That something turned out to be Juniper Lee, as she punched a skeleton on her right and kicked another on her left. She then leapt up, grabbed one by the shoulders, landed on her feet and then tossed the one she grabbed into four other skeletons, shattering them upon impact.

"Oh my. Well aren't you just a strong fighter Juniper dear."-Vamber complimented, as she summoned a bubble, trapping a charging skeleton, and after a few seconds it exploded taking the undead with it.

"And you're a lady with no pants and weird swords. But just consider this as my apology for getting you and your brother mixed up in this."-Juniper proclaimed as she jumped and landed an axe-kick on another skeleton's head.

"Oh, well actually it should be me and Prohyas who should apologies for involving you in this. And I don't wear pants because I HATE THEM!"-Vamber shouted the last part, before spinning around creating small to medium sized bubbles around herself, making them explode after a few seconds, pushing back or destroying the remaining skeletons around her.

While everyone was shredding skeletons left and right, those who weren't as super powered huddled together and were surrounded by Steven's pink force field as skeletons were trying to break through it.

The half gem in question was doing his best to keep the bubble up, but he was visible sweating and was having a hard time keeping his mind focused. And the panicking of some the people inside his bubble wasn't helping.

"Oh man this is bad. We're gonna die if we stay inside this thing any longer. I don't wanna die, I'm too young and handsome for that!"-Woody yelled in panic

"Well then you'll die sooner if you step outside, ya crazy bird!"-Marco retorted, keeping his fighting stance, but still very nervous about this.

"Hey Steven, ya think you could lower your bubble thingy so I could get in on the action?"-Star asked as she held her wand at the ready.

"I…I…c-can't Star!"-Steven said, doing his best to keep it together-"If…if I lower my…b-bubble then…they'll…k-kill us…"

"Oh."-Star realized

"Well then ya better keep this thing up kid, or else we're all goners!"-Eddy ordered, trying to hide behind a trembling Ed

"This isn't fun anymore guys!"-Ed yelled

"EDDY! ED!"-Double D yelled at both of them-"Steven is struggling to keep this force field up as best as he can. So I think he'd appreciate it if you two wouldn't pressure him so much!"

"He's right."-Dexter said, drawing everyone's attention to him-"In case you have not noticed, Steven is exerting far too much energy already, and with those abominations constantly striking the bubble it is clearly taking its toll on him. So all of you shut up and let him focus. That means YOU TWO AS WELL!"

Dexter yelled the last part out at Ami and Yumi, both of whom were talking in japanese in the background up until now.

"Sorry. We panicked."-Ami apologized

Once that was done Steven grunted as he kept the bubble up as best as he could, but after a few more seconds, the bubble broke apart, and the half gem fell on his hands and knees, panting in exhaustion.

The frost skeletons were about to strike them down, and Star and Marco were about to fight back, until light purple lightning suddenly fried half the skeletons around them, turning them into ash. Then an amethyst studded whip wrapped around three skeletons, before a familiar voice rang out:

"Hey, get away from them, ya freaks!"-Amethyst ordered as she pulled her whip back, swinging the trapped undead towards Garnet, who smashed them into pieces.

The few remaining skeletons didn't even the further demise of their brethren and went back to trying to take out the weakest members of the group.

…until a light blue lance sliced one of them in two. The frost skeletons turned to see a pissed off Pearl ready to lay the smack on all of them.

"If you scoundrels DARE to hurt my Steven…then I will make you regret your existence."-Pearl threatened, but the skeletons paid no mind to her proclamations and simply went to attack her instead.

"HEY! WHAT ABOUT US?! WHAT ARE WE, CHOPPED LIVER?!"-Eddy shouted indignantly, he and a couple of others from the group being offended by Pearl's choice of words.

The white gem in question ignored the short tempered Ed-boy's question and went back to cutting the undead down, until a shout alerted her:

" **NARWHAL BLAST** "

Three large narwhals blasted forth onto a group of oncoming skeletons, some of the undead even getting speared by the aquatic mammal's horn-like teeth. After that the narwhals dissipated into pink dust and energy, after which Pearl looked behind her and saw Star pointing her smoking wand in the direction the frozen undead came from. Although now that she isn't fully absorbed in the battle, Pearl could see that Star had an annoyed and insulted look on her face, and the princess from another dimension wasn't shy about expressing her current feelings either:

"Yeah Pearl, what Eddy said."-Star chided, forcing Pearl to raise an eyebrow in confusion-"I mean, we were almost turned to sushi rolls too. Sooo, don'cha think that as a super hero you should—oh I don't know—be just as concerned for the safety of others, like you are with Steven?"

Upon hearing this, the white gem's cheeks flushed a light blue colored blush of shame. As one of the many guardians of Earth, she should know by now that she has a responsibility to protect EVERYONE, not just Steven and the last remnants of Pi—I mean Rose Quartz.

The growls of a frost skeleton snapped her out of it, and without even turning around, Pearl twirled her lance then, pointing it backwards, stabbed the undead through its poorly armored ribcage.

The rest of the fight was pretty much won easy, with the heroes pretty much destroying any frost skeleton in their way. After another minute, it was only them and frost general.

"Well that was pretty easy."-Ben said as he turned back into his human form.

"I'll say."-Prohyas added, putting away the magisword he was previously using-"Vamber and I didn't even break a sweat. Though it was pretty awesome."

"And now all that's left is Frosty the Snowman over there."-Juniper said, while looking towards the still unmoving frost general.

"Oh yeah! You hear that, ya frosty bastard?! Your guys are gone now, so whatcha gonna do now, huh?!"-Eddy gloated, but he will soon come to regret it.

The frost general didn't respond and slightly lifted his mace and then tapped the snow-covered ground exactly three times. A few seconds later and from the ground burst forth a new wave of frost skeletons, replacing the fallen troops.

"You just HAD to say something, didn't you? Idiot."-Buttercup scolded Eddy, while the heroes formed a circle around the ones who couldn't fight. Although the heroes themselves were pretty worn out themselves from their previous fight.

The frozen undead slowly advanced towards the warriors, one of them even quickening its pace and raising its sword to strike down Bubbles.

The powerpuff in question closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, but it never came. Opening her peepers, she saw the undead's sword just inches away from her face, with the undead itself frozen in place. Pun not intended.

In fact, all of the frozen soldiers have suddenly stopped, as if someone hit the pause button.

 ***author whistles innocently, while taking his hands away from the keyboard, totally not being conspicuous***

It was so silent that the sudden cawing of a crow startled the heroes. They then saw a large black crow that was radiating sickly green energy, fly by and land on one of the jutting stones. It cawed again and stared at the one before it, more specifically the heroes, its blank eyes seeming to stare into their souls.

The heroes then suddenly felt the urge to turn towards the area where the crow came from, and what they saw, very much confused them. The saw a large figure, covered head to toe in a charcoal black cloak, which prevented them from seeing anything. Although they did note that the figure had broad shoulders, as well as a noticible lump on the left shoulder. They were also able to see the dirty yellow skull mask on the figure's face. It didn't have a mouth area, but through the eyeholes the heroes were able to see a pair of fiery orange eyes, which were glaring ahead.

There was a moment of silence, until the heroes heard the sound of metal shuffling behind them. Looking behind themselves, they saw the frost general actually move, and also noticed that it seemed to be…agitated?

The large undead then pointed its mace in the direction of the newcomer and said-" _Your journey ends here trespasser. Cut him down!"_

And so the frozen undead switched their attention from the heroes to the stranger, who didn't seem too alarmed about this. Though most people would show some kind of reaction towards being attacked by a horde of frost skeletons, this man only moved when the first one struck.

The first frost skeleton swung its sword at the man, who quickly sidestepped it, then just as quickly grabbed the undead's skull in his rather large hand—which was covered by a dark gauntlet, which was covered in bones—and crushed it with but a small effort. He then tossed the lifeless body towards a group of skeletons, all of them falling apart upon the apparently strong impact.

Another swung a sword at the stranger, who blocked the blade with his right gauntlet then backhanded the undead away. A frozen skeleton that was wielding a long axe tried to do an overhead slash, but the stranger simply flicked the undead's skull, destroying it and making its body fall apart. The stranger then grabbed the fallen axe and with only a couple of well-placed swings, destroyed the rest of the skeletons.

The heroes watched on as this stranger seemed more powerful than they thought he was, since he was literally decimating the entire wave of undead .SELF.

As the dust settled all that was left was the stranger still holding the axe, the wind slightly blowing his cloak. Then something suddenly burst out of the ground behind him and in the next second the stranger dove forward, letting go of the axe, as the Frost General swung its mace at the warrior. Though it didn't hit him, the mace did manage to somehow snag the end of the stranger's cloak, which was ripped to pieces in the process.

After righting himself and sliding on the icy ground for a few meters, the stranger stopped with his back turned to the heroes, but eve so they could still see some more details about this new warrior.

He was a man, that is something the heroes have already established, and was very muscular as well. But his skin was so deathly pale that it made him seem like a corpse. His upper body was covered in scars, both big and small, as well as some kind of symbol burnt unto his right shoulder like a brand. His upper body was devoid of any clothing whatsoever, except for the bone-gauntlets on his hands and a large pauldron on his left shoulder that was covered in dark purple spikes. He's wearing dark pants, with pieces of armor and tattered reddish brown pieces of cloth hanging off a silver belt. On his feet he wore a pair of silver and purple greaves with a skull on each knee-guard. The heroes also noted that the stranger also carried a pair of weapons hanging on both sides of his belt. The weapons themselves looked like a pair of short-handled scythes with the blades being folded up.

The man slowly got up from his kneeling position he landed in, his eyes never leaving the Frost General, who just shook the shredded cloak off its mace.

" _If these weaklings cannot defeat you, than I will do it personally."_ -the Frost General declared.

The stranger didn't say anything, only grunted and ran right towards the Frost General. The undead swung its mace in a wide arc, the stranger jumping over it while unfolding his scythes. Once he landed behind the Frost General, he slashed at the frozen corpse's armor, but after only five slashes, the undead turned around and blocked his blades with the handle of its mace. The living skeleton then tried to do an overhead smash with its mace, only for the stranger to hook his right scythe onto the mace's handle at the right time. He then spun around the handle both to avoid getting turned into a pale flapjack and to also kick the skeleton's bony face, causing it to stumble for a bit.

But as the stranger landed, the Frost General quickly swung its heavy weapon at the warrior, nailing him in the stomach and smashing him to an ice wall. The frost skeleton then used the mace's handle to pin the warrior to the wall, the stranger having to grab the handle as well, since he dropped his scythes after receiving the blow to the stomach. The warrior figured that the Frost General was trying to push him further into the wall so that it would collapse on top of him.

Though he knew it wouldn't kill him, it would certainly be a nuisance to deal with, and he didn't have time for that. So with all his might, the stranger headbutted the Frost General with enough force to even crack its helmet. Then the warrior kneed the skeleton in its chest plate, forcing it to let go of the mace and take a few steps back. The warrior still held onto the mace, and he swung the weapon with enough force to send the Frost General flying and crash through some upward jutting ice spikes, after which he began falling into the abyss bellow.

As the Frost General kept being pulled down by the force of gravity, its last words echoed through the entire chamber:

" _CURSE YOU HORSEMAN!"_ -and with that, the Frost General's falling figure disappeared among the misty clouds, until he would eventually splatter onto the ground.

The warrior took a moment to catch his breath and looked down at the large weapon still in his hands. He only took a moment, before he spun the mace a few times and planted the butt of the staff into the ice. Then a dark purple portal appeared, through which several spectral skeletons emerged, grabbing the staff of the mace and pulling it into the portal, eventually disappearing.

The stranger then casually walked over to his discarded scythes, not noticing, or even caring about the shocked looks of the heroes.

Speaking of which, the heroes themselves were just standing there, flabbergasted at what they just witnessed. Not only did this one single man defeat an entire platoon of skeletons with just his fists, legs and a rusted axe, he also managed to garner a reaction from the Frost General….oh and he also defeated the general too. Now any one of the heroes could have taken down the skeletons and the Frost General by themselves—using the right strategy and skills of course—which is why they are so surprised to find someone so skilled in this icey world.

"Ooookay, since no one's gonna say it, guess I will…"-Woody spoke first-"That guy's got some skills."

"Skills? Pfft."-Eddy scuffed-"More like _killer_ skills."

"Eddy, now's not the time for your witty banter."-Double D retorted.

"Double D's right Eddy."-Marco spoke next-"I mean, for all we know, this guy might want to try and kill _us_ next."

"Actually Marco,"-Dexter began-"I'm quite certain that if this man's plan was for us to be dead, wouldn't have been more logical to let those skeleton things finish us off?"

This got a silent response from the Hispanic karate kid, but it was Jack who voiced some remaining concerns-"Even so, we cannot let our guard down with this warrior. Even if he means us no harm we still must-"

And Jack couldn't finish his sentence because at that moment, an animalistic roar sounded right behind them. They turned and saw the Wolf Beast on top of a glacial outcropping starring at them with rage.

How did this thing end up in this place with them AND stay hidden up until this point is quite the mystery. Or maybe just good plot convenience.

Anyway, the Wolf Beast was just about to attack them, until it began sniffing the air around it, until its gaze landed on the stranger, who was just standing there with his back turned towards the beast, as if he was expecting something to happen. And happen it did, because the moment its eyes landed on the warrior, the Wolf Beast growled with renewed furry and suddenly lunged towards him.

With the monster running so fast, the heroes feared they might not stop it in time, and suspecting this himself Steven simply opted to yell-"MISTER WATCH OUT, BEHIND YOU!"

However the stranger didn't react to wither Steven's screams, or the charged monster. In fact he only gave a reaction when the beast was only a few meters away from him.

When the Wolf Beats jumped towards the warrior, the man himself spun around, with his right scythe raised and in a split second there was a ***SHINK*** sound and the Wolf Beast was sliding on the snow behind the masked warrior…with its head rolling right next to its body a few seconds later. For a moment everything was silent, until the glowing green crow landed on the Wolf Beast's decapitated head and began plucking out one of its eyeballs.

Now the heroes were even more shocked and if they were cautious about the warrior before, now they certainly would be. They perfectly understood destroying the skeletons, since they were like robots, but killing an actual, flesh and blood living being stood against every moral value they had.

Swallowing the lump in her non-existent throat, Amethyst spoke first-"Okay THAT was really brutal…"

"Yeah…"-Prohyas added-"I mean, I know Vamber and I were supposed to get rid of that thing, but…"

"I don't think even _we_ would resort to doing such a thing."-Vamber finished for her brother

"Well…"-Rex began-"We're not getting anything done by just standing here. One of us is gonna have to ask that guy for some directions."

"And how do you suggest we do that Rex?"-Juniper asked the evo hero-"I mean, in case you haven't noticed, he took out those skeleton guys without breaking a sweat and killed that wolf monster without even flinching. How is any one of us supposed to go up to him and play twenty questions with him?"

Rex looked at the twelve-year-old with a raised eyebrow and spoke-"How am I supposed to know that when I'll be the one to ask him Jun?"

That suggestion got some shocked looks from everyone around, but Rex didn't wait for them to start protesting and just started walking towards the standing stranger.

…until he felt a metallic hand grab his arm. He looked over his shoulder and saw a worried looking Jenny, who spoke after a moment of silence:

"Rex…just…be careful, okay?"

Realizing that she was just worried about him and his decision, Rex smiled softly and said-"Hey don't worry Jen. You know I got this."-and with that he pulled away from the robot girl's grasp and calmly walked towards the warrior.

Strangely enough, the warrior hadn't even moved since he took out the Wolf Beast and was just standing there, like he was waiting for something…or someone.

Realizing that this could be his one chance for a peaceful chat with a warrior from another world, Rex took a deep breath and put on his best smile, while sticking his hand out for a handshake:

"Hey there! Names Rex and I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I-"

And just before Rex could finish what he started to say, the warrior quickly put the blade of his right scythe uncomfortably close to Rex's neck. Now Rex was able to get a better look at the warrior's weapon. The blade was a single, long piece of metal, with both edges being unnaturally sharp, and ending with some kind of monster skull-like form where the blade meets the handle. The handle itself was wrapped in purple wrappings and it ended with a metal circle at the bottom end. Along the blade there was a series of runes etched, all of them glowing orange **(A/N: simply put, so you guys won't get confused by my description, it is the Soul Reaper Scythe form)**.

Rex didn't dare to move or even breath, as he suspected that the slightest contact with that blade would result in him bleeding out on the floor.

"Now then,"-Rex's attention was quickly taken from the blade to the source of the deep, baritone voice, which happened to be the stranger holding him at scythe-point-"With those nuisances out of the way, time for you to answer my- ***BLAST*.** "

Before the stranger could finish his statement, a blue laser bolt struck him in the chest, causing him to take a step back, and take his blade away from Rex. Looking up, he saw a very angry XJ9 hovering above the ground using her pigtail rocket-boosters, and having her self-made wrist-blaster pointed at him.

"You get away from him you creep!"-Jenny shouted, as she fired several more laser bolts at the stranger.

The warrior though wasn't deterred in the slightest. All he did was move his scythes at the exact place where the bolts would hit and deflected them accordingly. It even seemed like his blades were cutting the laser bolts in half. This took Jenny by surprise, but she quickly shook it off and retracted her blaster and brought two more pairs of arms and summoned a total of six blades to replace her hands. She then landed right in front of the warrior and started swinging her blades at him. However her blades would either miss or be blocked by his own weapons. He even had to block herself a couple of times.

' _Oh man this guy's really good!'_ -Jenny screamed in her mind- _'Maybe close-quarters wasn't such a good idea!'_

While this was happening the heroes were a bit confused about the situation, mainly about Jenny's sudden outburst.

"Sooo…are we supposed to fight that guy now?"-Woody asked

"What? No!"-Juniper responded

"Jun's right."-Ben added-"We're supposed to ask him questions not-"

"Oh! So we're supposed to beat the answers out of him, right?"-Amethyst inquired excitedly, while pulling her whip out of her gem-"I like that plan."-then she runs towards the ongoing battle-"LET'S DO THIS!"

"Amethyst wait!"-Pearl tried to stop her reckless companion with no success

"Hey Amethyst save some for me!"-Buttercup yelled as she flew into the fray as well

"Buttercup stop!"-Blossom yelled after her reckless sister but to no avail

"And there those two go again,"-Dexter stated-"Listening to their muscles instead of their brains."

"Alright! I want some of that action too!"-Prohyas yelled excitedly as he ran after Amethyst and Buttercup, while unsheathing his magisword of choice:

 **CHAINSAW MAGISWORD**

Really? That magisword again? Fine whatever, we both know how this'll end anyway.

Back to the fight itself, Jenny and the scythe-wielder were locked in a stalemate, and Jenny didn't like this because she was forced to look into the stranger's orange eyes, which seemed to unnervingly be peering into her very soul **(A/N: And yes Jenny has a soul. DON'T JUDGE!).** However the warrior's gaze shot up as he saw Amethyst about to descend upon them with her whip ready to strike.

Knowing what will happen, the warrior pushed Jenny back, connected his two scythes together via the rings at the bottom of each hilt, then tossed the now-singular weapon at the robot girl. Only now the double-bladed scythe was now spinning like a propeller and Jenny knew that those blades might easily cut into her metal hide, so she retracted her Shiva Swords and brought forth a light-blue energy shield and stopped the spinning weapon in its tracks. Only problem was that the scythe was still spinning and was still pushing against her shield, but Jenny held strong for now.

Meanwhile the warrior looked, just in time for Amethyst to swing her whip in his direction, but the stranger simple placed his left forearm in front of himself, allowing the whip to wrap around it. The warrior then abruptly swung his arm backwards, pulling Amethyst in as well. The purple gem thought she could kick the pale man in the masked face, but what she didn't expect was for a large gauntlet to appear on the man's right forearm.

The gauntlet itself was dark brown and reddish orange colored, and that was just the hand portion. The rest of it looked more like the skull of a demon, with two pairs of horns (one pair pointing up and the other pointing down).

As soon as Amethyst was in range, the warrior punched the gem in the face with the demonic gauntlet, forcing her to let go of her whip as she was launched towards a charging Buttercup. The two super heroines' collided with each other and fell to the ground.

"Ugh…sorry about that dude."-Amethyst groaned as she got off the green powerpuff-"That guy just caught me off guard with that sucker-punch."

"No kiddin'."-Buttercup said, also recovering from the blow-"That guy sure packs a wallop."

Then Prohyas was next to run towards the stranger, Chainsaw Magisword raised and laughing like an idiot at the prospect of fighting a strong foe.

The warrior however didn't share the sentiment and after making the evil gauntlet disappear, simply raised his right hand. This caused his still spinning scythe to fly towards his open palm, relieving Jenny of any further pressure. However the rotating weapon flew right next to Prohyas, nearly cutting him into ribbons, which caused him to let out a _manly_ yelp.

"Hey dude!"-Prohyas yelled at the warrior, who just got his weapon back-"Watch where ya swing that thing! You coulda killed me back there!"

The warrior merely separated the weapon into its twin scythe form while glaring at Prohyas-"That was the point, you fool."-the pale man growled, then swung his right scythe and the mere force of the swing created a large gust of wind, which knocked the heroes back several meters.

This of course shocked the fighting heroes and made them realize that this was no ordinary foe they're dealing with here. But that didn't stop them from getting back into the fight…even though they still don't know why were they fighting him.

Amethyst went first, by wrapping her whip around the left leg and pulled, hopping to trip the warrior, but only succeeded in pulling the man's leg a little forward. Seeing this wasn't doing any good, she decided use her spinning ball attack, and she did this by wrapping herself in her own whip and causing her form to ignite in purple flames. However the end of Amethyst's whip was still wrapped around the man's leg, a fact which he exploited. He grabbed the gem-studded whip and after pulling it off his leg, he pulled the still spinning Amethyst towards himself. But this time, instead of punching her in the face with a demonic gauntlet, the warrior simply spun her around himself once, then let go of the whip and launched the flaming gem towards an unsuspecting Prohyas, causing a small explosion and making them both skid a few meters on the ground.

Buttercup then shot forward with her fingerless left fist cocked back and ready to strike. The warrior though simply raised his right open palm at the incoming powerpuff and when her fist collided with his hand a loud ***BOOM*** was caused as well as a strong shockwave, which kicked up a thick dust cloud. After the dust settled—pun totally intended—Buttercup opened her eyes and saw to her complete shock that the warrior was still standing tall with his hand stopping her fist. In fact, she was only able to push the man back a couple of centimeters, as evidenced by the skid marks on the ground.

"Impressive."-the warrior simply complimented. But he also used Buttercup's shock to his advantage, by grabbing her small, round head with his right hand and smashed her face first into the ground-"But not good enough."

"Hey!"-Jenny's shout caught the stranger's attention and he looked up to see said robot girl hovering above the ground and pointing two laser blasters from her wrists at him-"Let her go right now you bastard!"

Without waiting for a response though, Jenny fired several laser bolts at the warrior, who let go of Buttercup's head and took a few steps back. The green powerpuff got off the ground and was now glaring fiercely at her opponent.

"Oh now you've done it buddy."-Buttercup said fiercely-"Nobody smashes MY face to the ground and gets away with it!"

The stranger saw that Buttercup's eyes were turning scarlet red, and he suspected that that meant she would launch some kind of eye based attack. He also looked up and saw Jenny charging up her own weapons, and with some quick thinking, the warrior managed to think of an idea.

He quickly rushed forward, grabbed Buttercup by her head again and turned her so her eyes were facing Jenny. And just at that moment Buttercup fired her red eyebeams at a surprised XJ9, knocking her off the air. Before Buttercup could do or say anything, the pale man threw her to the ground, creating a small trench in the proses.

Well if the four heroes thought they were outmatched before, they sure as hell did now. The warrior glared at them and unsheathed his twin scythes and was ready to continue their little fight. The heroes were more than a little weary to do the same, but knew that if they didn't, they and their friends may not survive this warrior's wrath. So with reluctant resolves they got up and got ready to fight on. But one single question popped up in their minds at the same time:

' _Why aren't the others helping?!'_

 **XXX**

Back with the heroes who weren't fighting, they watched in shock and awe as the mysterious warrior was beating their own friends left, right and center. However this wasn't what they wanted to do at all. They wanted to ask the warrior some important questions, not engage in a rather dangerous fight with him. And Steven wasn't shy about voicing his and everyone else's concern:

"Guys we have to stop this fight, or else that man is gonna kill them!"-the half gem said in a distressed tone.

"Fine, then _you_ go in there kid!"-Eddy said nervously-"There's no way I'm getting in that fight!"

"But Eddy, we have to do _something._ Because I don't think that guy's gonna stop until he literally kills them."-Marco told the short Ed-boy, then turned to his fellow Hispanic, who had been witnessing the whole fight from the start and asked him-"Rex, can't you call off the fight or something?"

"First off I can't 'call off' anything. I'm not some referee."-Rex retorted-"And second, I don't think any of them will listen to me, especially that masked guy. I think if I jump in, I'll just make things worse."

"Well then, what do we do?"-Ami asked, just as distressed as Steven-"If only we could somehow stop them all at the same time. Maybe then they would listen."

Yumi was about to counter what her friend said, but Ben actually beat her to it with a knowing smirk on his face:

"Actually, there might be a way to do just that."-the shapeshifter said, as he activated his omnitrix.

 **XXX**

Back in the fight, things weren't looking good for the heroes. They were battered and bruised and are starting to get tired. Even Jenny had managed to receive some dents on her metallic body and her power reserves were starting to drain as well.

" ***huff*** Look dude ***huff*** can't we just ***huff*** call it a draw or something?"-Prohyas asked between breaths

"Wait what?!"-Amethyst asked in a surprised tone-"You can't just give up now dude! We've got him on the ropes!"

"I think we both ***huff*** know that's not true Amethyst."-Prohyas retorted

"Yeah? Well I'm not just gonna give up!"-Amethyst said determinedly, while preparing her whip for combat

"Me neither."-Buttercup added-"I'm not let this clown go after what he did to me."

Knowing those two were too stubborn to give up, Jenny and Prohyas looked at each other and nodded simultaneously, determined to support their friends to the end. The pale man saw that his opponents won't give up and took a battle stance himself.

"I'm impressed by your determination to succeed in battle."-the warrior told them-"But such thinking will lead to your downfall."

"Oh yeah?!"-Buttercup challenged-"Well we'll see how big you talk after we knock you on your ass pal!"-and with that both sides charged at each other for another round.

But before the opposing parties could clash once more, large green vines sprouted from the ground and ensnared all of them. Having been caught by surprise the heroes and the warrior naturally began to struggle against the living plants, but didn't succeed in breaking free though.

"Okay, this is just weird."-Prohyas stated, feeling rather uncomfortable with being snared by vines

"Where did these things even come from?"-Jenny wondered, trying to pull out one of her many cutting weapons to get herself free.

"Who cares?!"-Buttercup yelled trying to get herself out of this predicament as well, but finding great difficulty in it. Especially since one of the vines coiled around her head as well, effectively blindfolding her and preventing her from using her laser eyes-"Let's just get the heck out of these things already! Urgh!"

"Easy for you to say shrimp!"-Amethyst complained, she being the one who struggles the most-"I can't even roll up into a ball! How are we supposed to escape anyway?!"

The stranger was also having a very hard time getting out of these restraints, especially since he couldn't use his scythes to cut himself loose.

"Madness!"-the warrior shouted-"What manner of sorcery is this?!"

"Not sorcery dude!"-a deep male voice spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to the source. Which was some kind of humanoid green plant, with vines seeming to make up its torso and forming long thin arms with long thin fingered hands. The creature also had eight black seeds sprouting from its back, two large blades sprouting from both its shoulders looking like a large Venus Flytrap and three blue orbs, two being on each shoulder and one on the center of its face acting as an eye. The creature didn't have any legs, except for a bunch of roots, which were borrowing into the icy ground—most likely being the source of the snaring vines. Finally the creature had a metallic circle on its chest with a green hourglass symbol. The creature's humanoid face had a smug grin and spoke a moment later-"Just some alien awesomness. If ya want sorcery, then ask my cousin. She's really good at that stuff."

"Good thinking Ben Ten."-Garnet complimented the young hero and clapped his left shoulder while she was at it

"Yeah."-Juniper added-"How did you know this form could work?"

"Well actually it was either Articguana, Big Chill or Wildvine."-Ben explained, while still keeping his grip on the fighting group-"So I just went with Wildvine, since the other two would probably be a bit cliché for a place like this."

"…I'm not sure how logical that is, but…I'll take your word for it."-Juniper concluded.

"Uh guys?"-Amethyst drew their attention as she was now upside down somehow-"Not that I don't like a nicely worded, really long and really detailed explanation, which I don't, but can you guys save it for AFTER you let us go?"

"No Amethyst."-Pearl said sternly, as if she were a mother talking to a child (which considering their relationship, wouldn't be too farfetched)-"With Ben holding you like this, neither one of you will do anything stupid again."

"Uuuhhh, what are talking about P?"-Amethyst inquired in a genuine confused tone

"She is talking,"-Dexter began elaborating-"About how you four just decided to haplessly follow your muscles again and pick a fight with this man over here ***points to the warrior*** , even though that wasn't the plan at all."

"Yeah well…"-Prohyas tried to come up with a viable explanation…and then pointed towards Jenny-"SHE started it!"

This not only earned him an indignant-"Hey!"-from Jenny, but also a whack to the head by Vamber's Hoversword.

"Don't you even think about blaming Jenny for this Prohyas."-the bluenette warrior chided-"Because instead of using your magiswords to stop this fight, you just jumped right into it."

"Oh and you wouldn't have dear sister?"-Prohyas countered, trying to gain some ground over his sister…and failed miserably

"On any other occasion I would have, but not when this gentleman ***points to the warrior*** is the only one who could tell us where we are."-see? Told ya.

"Speaking of which,"-Rex began as he approached Jenny, who was looking more nervous than ever-"Why in the world did you attack this guy out of nowhere like that Jen?"

"B-because…"-Jenny hesitated for a moment, trying to word out her reason as best as she could, without having to reveal her true feelings in front of everybody-"Because I thought…he was gonna kill you. I mean, he had his scythe to your neck, so I just assumed that…"

Now understanding his friend's reason, Rex simply sighed and said to the robot girl-"Look Jenny, I appreciate what you were trying to do, I really do. But I think he just did that because he probably thought we were with those skeleton dudes, or something. I mean, we thought he was with those things too, right?"-Jenny simply averted her gaze away from the evo hero, knowing that he was right.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry…"-Jenny said with sadness and shame

"There is no need to apologies Jennifer."-Jack said, cutting into the conversation-"We all make mistakes in our lives. It is how we better ourselves. However, I would suggest that you refrain from committing such actions in the future. Do you understand Jennifer?"

Jenny couldn't find a good enough argument against the samurai's words of wisdom, so she just wordlessly nodded her head.

"Great!"-Eddy interjected-"So can we move on now? I think my balls' are gonna freeze if I stay out here any longer."

"EDDY!"-Double D shouted indignantly, but the short Ed-boy's comment did cause a bit of laughter among some members of the group.

"Anyway, Eddy's got a point about moving things along."-Wildvine said, as he turned to address the tangled mess of heroes—again, pun totally intended—"So you guys cool?"

"I will be after you let me go and I pound that guy's ass!"-Buttercup shouted before the others could say anything.

This only earned her a glare from Blossom as she approached her tied up sister-"Buttercup. Fighting was never part of the plan and if you keep picking fights with every new person we come across you'll only make things worse and we're never going to find a way home. So either you stop being such a hothead for more than ten seconds or you'll stay tied up like this until we get home."

Buttercup growled at how Blossom was using her commanding tone on her again. She really hated it when she did that. But Blossom did raise one good point: if she continued to pick fights with everyone, they'll never get home. So with a defeated sigh she said:

"Fine."

With that and after the other three nodded their heads Wildvine released them and then turned his attention to the warrior who was still tied up-"What about you? You cool too?"

The man growled at first and then said-"Wether I am cold or not is of no importance creature. I command that you release me and answer my questions."

Some of the heroes had to bite their tongues as to not laugh at how the stranger doesn't understand the term 'cool'. Even Wildvine had to fight back an incoming snicker as he spoke-"That… ***snicker*** …that was just an expression dude. ***snicker*** What I mean is are you going to attack us if I let you go?"

Realizing what the plant alien meant, the stranger spoke again, this time in a much more tamed tone-"Answer my questions and I will stay my hand. You have my word creature."

Looking at the others for confirmation and after receiving a nod from both Jack and Garnet, Wildvine released the warrior and retracted all of his vines as well.

"Cool. And FYI…"-Wildvine said then tapped the metallic circle on its chest and in a flash of green light became Ben Tennyson once again-"Name's Ben Tennyson, or just Ben Ten for short."

The warrior was surprised by this, as evident by the widening of his orange eyes.-"So you are a shapeshifter then. Either that or a human who knows shape shifting magic."

"Uh, didn't I already tell you that I don't do magic? My cousin Gwen does."-Ben explained—again—as he pulled up his sleeve showing the alien device-"I just used the Omnitrix here, to turn into Wildvine."

An awkward silence followed soon after and Ben wandered if he said something he shouldn't have, until Dexter eased his worries.

"Ben? Perhaps I should remind you of the fact that we are NOT on Earth anymore and that this fellow obviously has no idea what the Omnitrix even IS."

Upon hearing this and realizing that he let his ego get the best of him again, Ben scratched the back of head in embarrassment and said:

"Right, sorry dude, I didn't mean to confuse you…"-Ben said and would've said more, had the warrior not put his hand up to stop him.

"It matters not. What I want to know is how did you humans, and ***looks at Woody, Jenny and the Powerpuff girls*** whatever you lot are, not only survive the Apocalypse, but also come to be here."

This drew an even more awkward silence, because none of them even knew what the stranger was talking about. They understood the last part, but not the part about the 'Apocalypse'.

"Uh, what the heck are you talking about?"-Woody was the first to break the ice

"I meant exactly what I asked creature. And I will not repeat myself for it."-the warrior said with a strong finality in his tone.

Before Woody would start chastising the pale man for calling him 'creature', Marco quickly stepped in-"Uhm, what Woody was _trying_ to ask ***gives Woody a pointed look*** is what are you saying about an 'Apocalypse'?"

The stranger growled in an annoyed way since he had to clarify what should probably be the most obvious thing right now-"I am speaking of the End War. The event which destroyed the Third Kingdom, your realm, and caused the extinction of all humanity."

With that clarified the heroes now knew…far less than what they have a minute ago.

"Uhm, excuse me, sir?"-Double D hesitantly said, earning a steel-eyed look from the warrior, though he continued to speak nonetheless-"I uh…I do not mean to imply that you are lying or anything, but…our world, Earth, is perfectly fine and hasn't been subjected to the Apocalypse as far as I can tell."

"He's right dude."-Prohyas added his two cents-"Earth is pretty much all sunshine and rainbows, like it always has been."

"Except for the occasional super villain, of course."-Ben added with a smirk.

Now it was the stranger's turn to look confused and he even voiced his confusion-"That is not possible. How can you say the Third Kingdom is not destroyed when it clearly is?"

"Well perhaps because…Oh for God's sakes."-Dexter began then concluded in an exasperated tone, when he noticed a certain lump being a little too close to the stranger.

The stranger himself was confused for a second, before he looked to what Dexter was glaring at and saw Ed standing close to him and staring at him with awe in his big dopey eyes.

"What are you staring at human?"-the stranger asked with a bit of an edge on his voice.

"Ed please, you know very well it's not polite to stare."-Double D said, which must've snapped the big lug out of his state, because he turned to face his two best friends with an excited smile.

"Sorry Double D. But he looks just like the main character from one of my favorite comic book series, called 'Darksiders'."-Ed explained as he pulled out a comic book from one of his really deep pockets. Said comic book's cover had an illustration of the stranger himself with the title _'Darksiders II: Death's Door'_ written above it.

The stranger took the comic book from the Ed-boy looked at it for about a minute or so…then he crumbled it in his large hand and asked-"What in the Nine Circles is this?"

"Well that's called a comic book."-Rex said with an amused smirk-"It's like a story book, but with pictures and-"

"That is not what I—grrr."-the stranger interjected, but stopped as this was not important in the slightest (yet).

"Ahem, anyway,"-Dexter began, getting everyone back on topic-"As I was trying to explain earlier, the reason why what you are saying about Earth doesn't match with what we know, is perhaps because we come from a different 'Earth' than the one you are aware of."

Dexter's explanation made the stranger even more confused now, but instead of looking confused he was now glaring at the smart child.

"That is not possible."-the stranger said-"Such things as 'Mirror Worlds' do not exist, and even if they do, there is only ONE Third Kingdom in all of Creation."

"Actually sir, what Dexter just said _would_ actually make sense."-Blossom added-"Many scientist from Earth have this theory, called the Theory of Parallel Worlds, where there are countless worlds out there that look like ours but have some major differences. This might even be the case right here."

"She's right actually."-Ben also added-"We pretty much deal with stuff like this all the time."

All of this was good and everything, but it did little to sway the warrior's opinion-"What you are saying is still foolishness. I travel between realms and never once have I been in two realms that are the same but slightly different, as you are insinuating."

Now the heroes were stumped as to what else could they say to convince this man that they are telling the truth. Luckily for them, their resident princess came to their save:

"I CAN PROVE IT! Sorta…"-Star said as she pulled out her dimensional scissors-"My dimensional scissors are kinda broken right now for some reason, but maybe if-"

She was interrupted when the pale man suddenly took her scissors right out of her hands with his free hand and after giving it a quick once over he spoke in a surprised tone:

"Realm blades? But how is this possible? How have you come about this-"-the warrior started saying, then he looked at Star as if he just noticed her presence and after looking at her more closely he said-"Symbols on your cheeks?...By the word of the Creator, don't tell me you are of the Butterfly clan."

"…If you're asking if I'm part of the Butterfly royal family from the kingdom of Mewni, then yes, yes I am."-Star said as she puffed out her chest, but then got a confused look on her face and asked-"Hold on a sec, how do _you_ know about my family?"

"Because you and your kin cause so much trouble, not only in your realm but in other realms as well. And that earned all of you the ire of both the Charred Council and myself."-the warrior said in an almost exasperated tone

"Well, mom never mentioned someone like you or the…Scorched Council before."-Star said as she crossed her arms.

The warrior sighed and shook his head at how Star mispronounced 'Charred Council'. Then, the man addressed the heroes:

"Since this little imp is with all of you, I presume what you are speaking _is_ true after all, correct?"

This caught everyone by surprise since the man stubbornly kept rejecting their explanations, but now after just seeing Star he suddenly believes them. This kind of bewilderment was voiced by Eddy himself:

"HEY WAIT A MINUTE!"-see?-"You said what the two eggheads were saying was shit. NOW your saying you believe us because of Goldylocks here?"

"I must agree with young Eddy on this one."-Jack spoke, but much, MUCH softly then Eddy did-"Why do you believe us now after only seeing Star?"

"Because, as I said,"-the stranger began explaining-"Her family are well known for causing various mishaps across multiple realms, be they good or bad. And because she is here with you, I can only assume that you are here because of her."

"HEY! I didn't bring us to this dump!"-Star interjected-"It was Dexter's stupid dimensional, machine, thingy that brought us here in the first place!"

"Star!"-Marco hissed at his friend for saying such things, even though they're true

"What? It's true, tell him Marco."-Star said indignantly, to which the warrior asked:

"What are trying to imply Butterfly?"

"What she's 'implying' sir,"-Dexter intervened-"Is that it was because of my _greatest_ invention ever, that we have come to be here."

"Pfft, yeah some 'great invention'. Pile of horse crap is what it is."-Eddy said under his breath, but Dexter still heard it.

"What did you just say, you stuuupid, idiotic, no-brained-"

"ENOUGH!"-the stranger shouted, making the two boys shut their mouths instantly-"What do you mean _your_ creation is responsible for this child?"

"Well, basically I-"

"He made a machine which was destroyed by the wolf monster you decapitated and it opened a portal that brought all of us here."-Garnet summarized, before Dexter could get into one of his long and worded explanations. This off course made Buttercup and Amethyst snicker, seeing Dexter giving Garnet one of his famous glares.

The warrior said nothing and only starred at the Gem leader in silence. To everyone else Garnet stared back at the warrior with one of her stoic looks, but in reality she was actually…afraid. After witnessing this man's fighting prowess, his weapons and even his mask, Garnet had a hunch as to who—or rather _what_ —this man is, but didn't voice it yet, until she was absolutely sure. And now that he was starring right at her was making her nervous, and could even feel a small bead of sweat forming on her face.

The silence and intense tension in the air was almost nerve wracking for everyone around, but luckily the stranger broke the silence by sighing:

"Very well. I will not pretend that I believe what you or the child are saying to be true. However, the one thing I do believe is that you all do not belong here, and therefore should return to your realm."

After saying this, and concluding that the stranger was—somewhat—on their side, the heroes let out a sigh of relief, believing that now they can get some proper answers.

"Finally!"-Amethyst spoke up-"I thought this whole debate thing was never gonna end."

"You can say that again pinky."-Eddy added

"Uh, I'm purple dude."-Amethyst corrected

"Haha, she's got you there Eddy."-Marco said with amusement, while Eddy growled indignantly

"Okay so moving on,"-Ben said, before a fight could break out-"Does this mean, you'll help us get back to our world?"

The stranger looked at the alien hero and replied-"I myself cannot help you, because I know not where your world is. However there is-"-the warrior stopped as he felt two distinct weights hanging off of each of his hands.

Lifting up his hands, he discovered that the extra weights were Ed and Star. Everyone just snickered at the sight, while the warrior glared at the two, but Ed simply smiled and asked:

"Can I have my comic book back mister?"

The man then looked towards Star, who had a nervous look on her face and she took this as her quie to speak:

"Ehehe, and can I have my dimensional scissors back? Y'know, in case they start working and all…"

The man simply shook his head as he sighed in annoyance and let go of both items, which caused both airheads to drop on their butts.

"I'm okay!"-Ed declared as he shot up his hand which was holding his comic book

"I'm good too!"-Star also declared, while shooting up her hand which was holding her scissors

After shaking his head again at the unfolded scene, the stranger spoke once again-"As I was saying, while I cannot help you all return to your realm, there is one who could. And as fate would have it, I am already seeking him for business of my own."

This definitely surprised the heroes. The pale man admitted that he couldn't help them, but he knew someone who probably could. This seemed a little too good to be true.

"Okay, well then who is the guy and where is he?"-Amethyst inquired, to which the warrior replied

"He's known as the Keeper of Secrets and he…resides within this very fortress."

Now this definitely surprised everyone. Not only was there someone who could help them, but he was practically very close to them as well.

"Well that's…convenient."-Juniper said uneasily

"Jun's right."-Rex said as he looked at the stranger with suspicion-"How do we know you're telling us the truth buddy?"

"I have no more desire to be in this wretched place than the lot of you."-the warrior replied without hesitation-"The old fool is here and I simply must reach him."

After a few seconds of Rex starring at the man with scrutiny, he said-"Alright then. Then I'm sure you won't mind if we tagged along, right?"

"And why should I allow that?"-the stranger asked back-"You all seem to be capable of handling yourselves, so why don't you find your own path?"

"Because you wouldn't leave a group of strangers here, because of your guilty conscience?"-Steven asked hopefully, and when the warrior simply looked at him with an unflinching gaze he decided to bust out the big guns…by staring at the man with his big puppy eyes.

The warrior simply raised an eyebrow at this, but the others knew what Steven was up to. So Buttercup elbowed Bubbles and gestured with her head towards the half gem, and after a couple of seconds Bubbles realized what her sister was implying. And so she floated close to Steven and proceeded to add her puppy eyes into the fray.

Gaining mischievous looks on their faces, Prohyas and Amethyst decided to add their two cents in as well. Amethyst turned into a puppy, while Prohyas pulled out the-

 **CUDDLEPUPPY MAGISWORD**

Which was simply a sword hilt with the blade being a front-facing lavender puppy, and proceeded to make three more puppies for emphasis.

This annoyed the warrior as he soon realized what they were doing: trying to convince him to take them with him. He was about to tell them 'no' again, but after looking at the two children, three puppies and the lavender gem again, he just couldn't bring himself to deny them for some reason.

"Pleeeeease."-okay that did it. With that final nail to the head, the man let out an annoyed groan and said:

"Alright, you may come with me, just…stop looking at me like that."

"YAY!"-Steven and Bubbles cheered and hugged each other, as Amethyst reverted back to normal and Prohyas dissipated the rest of the puppies.

"Nice going bro."-Amethyst complimented the younger Warrior sibling as they both hi-fived.

"Well now that that's in order, let's get going."-Ben said, and started walking in a random direction and the warrior simply shook his head and said as he started walking in a different direction.

"The correct path is this was way, shape shifter."

As the others began to follow the warrior and Ben fell into line with them, some of the heroes, like Rex, Marco, the Warriors, Jenny and such couldn't help but snicker at how close Ben was to getting lost. But the alien hero simply stated coolly:

"I knew that."

While the warrior was at the front and everyone else followed behind him, he couldn't help but said outloud:

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

 **XXX**

The walk that followed afterwards was painfully quiet, as nobody had anything to talk about really. They just wanted to get back to Earth as quickly as possible. However, there was something in the back of Jenny's computerized head that was constantly nagging at her. Not wanting to feel like this for the entire trip, she decided to approach the person she desperately needed to talk to.

"Uhm, Rex?"-said evo hero turned to look at the robot girl, who continued-"Listen about earlier…I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have overreacted the way I did, and I know that now, it's just that-"

"Hey don't worry about it Jen."-Rex said, putting his hand on Jenny's shoulder reassuringly-"I mean the guy had his weapon at my neck, so you just acted out of hero instincts. It could've happened to anyone. I mean, you should see me when I screw things up like this. Two words: awk-ward."

Jenny couldn't help but giggle at Rex's attempt to cheer her up, and for her own part, it was damn well working. Rex then continued-"Look, my point is, you were just trying to help a friend and you were just worried, and I understand that. I mean I think half of us are pretty much freaking out about this whole 'trapped in another world' situation. But I'm glad to know you have my back Jen."-Jenny couldn't help but blush at the teen hero's words-"And for the record, you kicked some serious ass back there."

Now Jenny blushed even harder, but smile nonetheless and said-"Thanks Rex. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Always happy to help a friend."-Rex gave her a thumbs up and moved forward, leaving Jenny with a bit of a crestfallen look on her face.

' _Yeah…a friend…'_ -Jenny thought sadly, but still had hope

After walking for exactly thirty minutes across the icy landscape, some of the heroes were beginning to suspect that maybe this stranger really didn't know where he was leading them. A fact which some, like a certain woodpecker, weren't shy of voicing out, as he flew up to the warrior and pecked his head to get his attention.

"Hey buddy! We've been walking for ages. Do you even know where you're goin'?"

"Uhm, actually Woody, we've been walking for only thirty minutes."-Ben pointed out, then looked towards the stranger-"But he does have a point dude. Do you even know where you're going?"

"If you know of another way, then feel free to walk in whichever direction pleases you shape shifter."-the man said, without even turning around or even stopping, although he knew that that shut the alien hero up.

"Oh by the way mister,"-Steven said innocently, despite the mood that has befallen the group-"You never told us your name."

"No I didn't, neither will I tell you now boy."-the stranger said, still keeping his pace and leaving a crestfallen Steven behind.

While the gems wanted to chastise the stranger for giving the young boy such an answer with such a tone, Dexter was able to beat them to it.

"And pray tell, why wouldn't you divulge your name to us stranger?"

"Because you will all be back in your realm shortly, and I will be on my way, and we will never see each other again. So I don't see the point of you knowing my name."-the stranger said, raising a good point, but that still didn't mean the heroes weren't at least a little bit curious about his name.

"Aiya, if he wouldn't be so sarcastic and mean all the time, I think he'd be a bit friendlier."-Ami said as she and Yumi were among those who were trailing in the back.

"Well I think his sarcasm only makes him hotter then he already is."-Yumi said as she had a bit of far-away/dreamy look on her face, something which Ami was quick to raise an eyebrow at. When Yumi noticed this she innocently said-"What? I told you I'm only into bad boys and badasses, and this guy's the whole package."

"Yeah, but what if he's not into you Yumi?"-Ami asked worriedly-"And what if we'll never see him again, like he said, after we find this Keeper of Secrets? I don't want your feelings to get hurt Yumi, you know?"

"Hai, I know Ami."-Yumi said, waving off her friend's worries-"But you never know. Sometimes people like us just get lucky."

Ami started to blush heavily when she started thinking about what her friend was saying, but their conversation was interrupted by someone in front of them saying-"Ugh."-And looking forward, they noticed Eddy looking back at them with a disgusted look on his face.

"Can't you two talk about which one of you fucks the new guy when I'm _not_ nearby?"-Eddy inquired, which made both rockstars blush intensely and before they could come up with a good comeback, the warrior said from the front of the group-"Over here!"

With that everyone looked to see the man taking a left turn and upon getting around the corner, the heroes noticed the man stepping onto what appears to be a circular platform of some sorts with a statue of an angel holding a spear on the other side of it. Moving a bit closer the heroes noticed that there was also a metal disk with runes etched into it and a long metal bar over it, under the altar the statue stood on.

Seeing the heroes not moving a muscle, the stranger said-"Well, what are you waiting for? Get on the platform, now."

"But it's just a dead end bro."-Prohyas stated

"Yes. And in our experience, if there's a dead end, than we have to find another way to our destination."-Vamber also stated, to which the stranger replied:

"This platform will take us up to where we must go."

That caused the heroes eyes to widen in surprise, and Rex was the one to speak up-"Wait, so that's an elevator? Well why didn't you just say that?"

The stranger rolled his eyes as he didn't know what the word 'elevator' meant, but at least this got everyone to pile up on the platform. Once that was done, Juniper asked-"Okay, now what?"

Without answering the stranger simply pushed the metal disk further towards the statue's altar and once it was pressed firmly to it the platform jolted once, catching the heroes by surprise and causing some, like the Eds, the Warriors, Star and Marco, the two rockstars and Dexter to fall on their asses as the platform went up.

As the platform went up in a smooth motion, Pearl however voiced her present concern-"I don't mean to sound paranoid or anything, but this platform seems far too unstable."

"I uh, would like to agree with Miss Pearl."-Double D chimed in after he got up from under Ed, while Eddy was still writhing under the oblivious lump-"The structure looks like it could fall apart at any moment."

"Relax Double D."-Juniper said, putting a supportive hand on the smart Ed-boy's shoulder, which caused him to blush intensely-"I rode in worse elevators at the mall. So don't worry so much, we'll be fine."

Before Double D could start stuttering all over the place and make himself look like an idiot, and right after Eddy sucker punched Ed to get him to move, the platform suddenly collided with a bunch of sharp ice spikes that were jutting out of the walls. This sudden collision now forced everyone to the ground and the platform to stop in a tilted position.

"Geez, what the heck was that?"-Star inquired as she helped Marco get up.

After surveying the damage Garnet came up with a conclusion-"Looks like this'll be our stop everyone."-the gem leader announced, ignoring Woody's-"No shit Sherlock."-comment, and she turned to address their 'guide'-"What now stranger?"

After getting back up to his feet, the warrior looked around, until he spotted a smooth wall with a few cracks in it. Looking further up, he saw that the wall lead up towards what seems to be a flat terrain, and no doubt another path towards their destination.

"We will be walking from here. First we must climb up that wall over there."-the stranger said, as he pointed towards the wall.

This didn't really sit well with some people though.

"Ugh, do we really have to climb?"-Eddy asked, almost in a whining tone, to which the warrior answered

"If you have a better alternative, then please share it."

Eddy was about to open his mouth to say something, but quickly shut up as he quickly realized where this was going. But just then Ben quickly chimed in:

"Actually there might just be a better way…"-the alien hero said, as he activated his Omnitrix, something, which the warrior was just now able to witness.

After scrolling through the green holo-circle, Ben selected which alien he was to become and after slamming down the watch's faceplate a bright green flash occurred. After the green flash disappeared, in Ben's place stood a very large reptilian beast with orange-brown scales, which shouted:

" **Humungosaur!"**

The stranger also noticed a familiar hourglass symbol on the beast's muscular chest, which he guessed must be some kind of brand to identify Ben with.

Ben, or rather Humungosaur, turned to address everyone-"Alright everyone get on my hand one at a time and I'll put you on the top of the wall. It'll be a lot easier this way."

Everyone looked at each other with some uncertainty but after a moment they all nodded, unanimously agreeing to go through with this.

The Warrior siblings went first, as they both stepped on Humungosaur's large hand. Then the large alien lifted them up and gently placed them on the platform above the wall. Once there Humungosaur proceeded with the next hero, as Vamber looked ahead and announced:

"There seems to be a path leading towards a tunnel."

"Then that's where we'll be going."-Rex said as stepped off of his friend's large hand.

While the heroes kept being transported by Humungosaur, the Powerpuff Girls, Woody and even Jenny decided to just take to the air themselves. It was now Steven's turn to go and the little half-gem was pretty excited to get a free ride-sorta-by Humungosaur, and after Pearl cautioned him to be careful, ran towards the alien reptile.

The white gem then looked towards the stranger, who was standing next to Humungosaur as if he was waiting for something, and curiously asked him:

"Uhm, pardon me, but how come you're still here? Aren't you going to let Ben put you up there?"

The stranger turned to the sentient mineral and said-"I have my own way of getting up. Now go, we are wasting time here."

Pearl didn't really like to be ordered around by anyone, except Rose and Garnet, but she saw the point the man was making, and so obliged although with a rather sower look on her face. After everyone was off the platform and after the stranger declined Ben's help, the huge alien got up onto the path as well and turned back to being human. Except that as soon as Humungosaur's large foot got off the unstable platform, the platform itself shock slightly and then slid and fell down to where it came from, breaking into pieces.

The heroes were shocked to see this, especially since the last member of their party wasn't there with them. Realizing this they quickly ran to the edge and looked down with worry…only to see the stranger calmly climbing up the wall.

The stranger either used various cracks on the wall or his clawed gloves to climb. When he reached the top he hoisted himself up, even though heroes like Rex and Jack offered to help him. Once he was up some have begun to show their surprise.

"Okay, _that_ was pretty amazing."-Star was the first to declare

"Yeah dude!"-Amethyst chimed in-"You were like a total badass climbing up that wall like it was nothing. How'd you even do it?"

"As I said before,"-the warrior said as he dusted off some debrees off his uncovered shoulder-"I had my own way of getting here."

"Well, at least you're okay."-Ben said-"I mean, for a second there I thought I accidentally killed you."

The warrior simply looked at Ben for a second, before he began moving forward again and said-"Unfortunately for many, I do not die so easily."

Left with this curious and rather ominous statement as some food for thought, the heroes started following after the stranger once again. However the heroes noticed that the path they were walking gave them a perfect view of the landscape…which wasn't much to look at though. But this still amazed the heroes to see so much snow and ice and wind covering everything they see.

"Wow, is there anything here that isn't covered in ice?"-Rex inquired, to which the warrior sighed in annoyance since he had to stop and explain.

"No there isn't. This entire realm is nothing but a frozen wasteland where nothing can exist… nothing except for the Keeper of Secrets."

This shocked the entire group. So not only was this place they were in right now a frozen land, but this entire WORLD was entirely covered in snow and ice. And to know that nothing lives in this world except for this Keeper of Secrets character is even more shocked and even borderline disturbing.

"A world of cold and with no life…how could such a world even exist?"-Jack inquired with some level of worry.

"I do not know, neither do I care."-the stranger said as he started walking again-"I am only here for the Keeper of Secrets. Nothing more."

This took some of the heroes by surprise, and Steven was the one to voice it-"But…aren't you worried that innocent people could be suffering down there?"

The warrior sighed in exasperation and turned to address the little boy-"No. Because even if there were 'people' living in this realm, their souls would have moved on long ago."-having said his peace, the warrior started walking again.

This left everyone in some amount of shock. They already realized that this man was one of the more brutal types of warriors sine he wouldn't think twice about taking a life if necessary, but to not care at all about the lives of possibly billions of lives on an entire world? That would probably require some major experience the heroes probably didn't want to know about.

Not wanting to get into a possible argument with the stranger, the heroes moved along as well, following the warrior. The walk in the ice tunnel was quite silent, until the stranger suddenly stopped at a ledge.

The heroes looked ahead and saw about four wooden beams jutting out of the wall next to the ledge, making a somewhat perilous path towards another wall that was covered in weird roots. Looking down, the heroes saw that there was nothing bellow, except for clouds that prevented them from seeing the bottom…which they believed was much, much further down.

" ***whistle*** That's a really long way down."-Yumi said, as she kicked a loose pebble over the ledge.

"Indeed."-Dexter agreed, before addressing the stranger-"Now what?"

"Now,"-the stranger began, while looking up-"We must reach the top of this chasm, over there ***he points towards an opening which is very high up*."**

This took most of the heroes by surprise.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out here buddy."-Amethyst chimed in-"How the hell do you expect us to get up there?"

"Uhm, we fly, of course Amethyst."-Rex said, as he sprouted a pair of metallic wings with a propeller on each end for emphasis-"And those of us who can't fly, we'll carry them up."

"Oh, right."-Amethyst said, while scratching the back of her neck.

Taking this as his que, Ben activated the Omnitrix yet again and turned into another alien. This time he turned into a humanoid red manta with a pair of yellow horns on his head and yellow skin-membranes attached to his arms and legs, forming wings. The Omnitrix symbol was located on his chest as well.

" **Jetray!"** -Ben declared, then turned towards the others-"Okay, who wants a ride on Ben Airlines?"

No one answered that question for a few seconds, until Jack stepped forth and said-"Perhaps I should be the one to go with you Ben."

"Works for me."-Jetray shrugged as he jumped up and grabbed the samurai by the shoulders and flew up.

Then everybody began their sorting as to who flew with who. Dexter was carried by Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup took Eddy and Double D, Jenny—with some effort—lifted big Ed off the ground, the Warrior siblings pulled out their Hoverswords and asked Ami and Yumi respectively to join them, Star summoned a big puffy cloud on which she jumped along with Marco and Juniper—after she asked kindly if she could join them—Amethyst and Garnet turned into large eagles and grabbed Pearl and Steven respectively, and finally Rex and Woody flew solo.

"Alright, looks like we're all ready here."-Rex declared, then turned to the warrior and extend his hand towards him-"C'mon dude, I'll carry you up."

The man looked at the hand for a few seconds, before giving a-"Hmpf."-and then ran towards the jutting beams. Rex wanted to stop him, but when the stranger started running from beam to beam and jumped onto the rooted wall, the evo hero shut his mouth.

Once he was on the wall, using the roots, the warrior began crawling along the wall towards a vertical beam that was half sunk into the wall. Once he was close enough, he jumped and grabbed onto the beam, sliding down a bit and leaving some claw marks. Fortunately he managed to stop himself from slipping off entirely and jumped onto the vertical beam's broken top above him. Then he jumped to another vertical beam that was behind him. He repeated this process one more time, before jumping onto a horizontal beam to left.

Meanwhile the heroes watched with fixed fascination at the warrior's acrobatic skills.

"Hmm, not bad."-Woody complimented

"Yeah. We could hire him to do some of those tricks back home, and we'd be rich in no time."-Eddy said, with a devilish smile

"But Eddy that would be mean."-Bubbles said as she looked at the small Ed she was carrying

"Show's how much you know about making money."-Eddy countered, earning the ire of a certain Powerpuff

"Hey, watch what you say to my sister shorty, or I'll make her drop ya."-Buttercup warned him, knowing full well that this would definitely shut him up.

Back to the stranger, once he walked to the end of the horizontal beam, he jumped towards a shorter beam in front of him. Then he ran up the wall before him, grabbed an even shorter beam and used it to jump further up, until he reached the mouth of the entrance.

He then lifted himself up into the entrance and a few seconds later the others have joined him.

"Those were some pretty ballsy moves you just did back there dude."-Rex said with a smirk

"I'll say."-Juniper added-"You remind me of my grandma when she was younger."

"I have to admit, you are pretty skillful stranger."-Garnet said with a small smile

The warrior simply walked forth and said-"I do not seek to impress. And besides, we have arrived."

This caused the heroes to look ahead and they saw a long corridor, which ended with an open entrance. Past the entrance they couldn't see too much, due to a bizarre blue light emanating from there.

"Now keep in mind this."-the stranger suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to him-"You will all remain silent and only I will speak to him, understand?"

This took everyone by surprise yet again.

"Wait a minute pal! Why the hell should _you_ be the only one to talk?"-Eddy asked angrily

"Yeah!"-Woody chimed in-"Don't we have a say in this too?"

Before anyone else could voice their compliance about this plan, the warrior turned around to fully face the heroes and addressed them with a very intense glare to boot:

"The answers that _I_ seek are far more important than your…request to be sent back to your realm. After the Keeper of Secrets has given me what I need, then and _only_ then will you ask for his aid. I gave you my word that I would bring you to him, but I never said I would wait until he sends you back to your realm first."

Having said his peace with such firmness and determination, nobody knew what to say exactly, until Pearl grew the nerve to speak:

"And what…exactly…is so important that you would start becoming so…aggressive with your allies?"

The warrior looked at the white gem for a few seconds, until he finally said:

"Nothing that matters to you gem."

From that answer everyone knew they wouldn't get much else from this man, and Jack decided to speak before anyone else:

"Very well than warrior. We will do as you say, out of respect for bringing us this far."

"Agreed."-Dexter added-"You have been a great help to us thus far, so I suppose there is no reason to not trust your judgement now."

While most of the heroes would have disagreed if it came from anybody else, but if it came from Dexter and Jack, two of the smartest and wisest members of this ragtag team, then they knew they should trust their decision.

The stranger said nothing, only nodded his head and moved down the corridor, with the heroes following behind. Once they reached the end of the corridor they entered a massive chamber which was, surprise-surprise, covered in ice, but had no ceiling. In fact there wasn't even a wall on the other side of the chamber. Instead there was a cluster of crescent pieces of metal, each having blue glowing runes etched into them, floating in the air in a circular motion, as if they were forming some sort of giant mystical clock.

Bellow the pieces of floating metal was a large and menacing looking stone throne upon which sat a man who can only be described as old. REALLY old. The man's skin was white as bone, and because of how sunken in his cheeks were, as well as how his skin was almost glued to his fingers, he looked almost like a skeleton. He wore a long robe that obscured his legs and torso, and which also had a thick hood that was covered in black feathers. The old man seemed to have several trinkets hanging off a thick belt around his waist, including a couple of green glowing canisters and a thick tome. The man had a long white beard stretching from his chin, as well as long white sideburns and thick white eyebrows, under which were a pair of green glowing eyes that were sunken in and had thick black circles around them. Finally the old man had an ominous looking amulet hanging off his neck, and was connected with thick chains to a pair of cuffs around his wrists; the cuffs having green runes etched into them.

Seeing this literal fossil was already unnerving enough for the heroes, but as they got closer they could hear the old man muttering to himself in a very raspy voice:

"Voices…always voices…torment without end…"

This behavior caused some cringing among some of the heroes-"Urk, what's the matter with grandpa over there?"-Yumi asked out loud, to which the stranger responded with a glare that made her silent.

Then the stranger took a few more steps forward and spoke up, drawing the old man's attention:

"Keeper of Secrets, I need your help."

The old man, who was apparently the Keeper of Secrets they were looking for, at first regarded the stranger with a look of surprise. But that look turned from surprise into anger in just one second, as he addressed the warrior:

"I have helped you once before Horseman and look at me now. How I curse that day! How I curse you…"

"Careful Crowfather. I am not here to put you out of your misery. Not yet…"-the warrior warned the old man, with a threatening edge in his voice, even putting his left hand on the handle of his left scythe for emphasis.

That threat obviously didn't go unnoticed by the heroes as Marco was the first to react verbally-"Wait, what do ya mean 'put him out of his misery'? You didn't say anything about-"

"I know why you are here."-the Crowfather declared, interrupting the Hispanic karate boy, and addressing the stranger-"Your brother, the one they call War. He has been imprisoned by the Charred Council and now awaits their final judgement. For dooming the Earth, for mankind's destruction. Why should I care about your brother's fate?"

The part about the stranger having a brother was already surprising enough, but the fact that he was looking for the Crowfather to find out how he's supposed to save a guy who, apparently, destroyed an entire world, caused a level of shock in every hero present that skyrocketed to kingdom come.

This revelation, this series of revelations, has triggered so many questions in their minds, particularly how this guy's probably a bad guy and how they couldn't see it. However their trains of thought were completely derailed when Eddy spoke up, addressing the Keeper of Secrets.

"Uhm, hey listen…fun fact…we're not exactly with this guy over here ***points to the Horseman, who was wondering out loud what the little Ed-boy was doing*.** So how 'bout you start being like a one of this kind old people and-"

"BE SILENT WELP!"-the Crowfather declared with such rage, that it literally made Eddy shut up and cower in fear like a kicked puppy. The Crowfather then turned to address the gathered heroes with as much, if not even more, rage as he did with the warrior-"Do not believe for a moment that I am a fool who doesn't know why you are here. You have tampered with powers that are _far_ beyond your feeble comprehensions and now you are suffering the punishment for such a foolish sin. So why should I care any more about _your_ fates than I do about War's?"

The heroes wanted to speak up and give this cranky old hermit plenty of good reasons, but the stranger was the one to beat them to it-"Because you things others do not. Your secrets can help all of us."

This only made the Crowfather cackle in amusement, as if he knew a hidden meaning behind the warrior's words that the others didn't. Then he addressed the Horseman directly once again-"You mean help _you_ alone Horseman. But you and I both know that the Council will condemn War. Strip him of power and let him rot in the Abyss…to hide the truth. My secrets cannot prove his innocence Horseman."

The warrior hung his head as he was starting to believe his journey might have been in vain, while the heroes kept getting more and more confused about the situation.

 ***author: just like how I was when I watched Darksiders 2 first, instead of Darksiders 1***

Then the stranger spoke, hoping this would convince the Crowfather to help him find a way:

"No, but they can help me to erase the crime."

It only took half a second for the Crowfather to understand what the stranger was talking about-"Bring mankind back from extinction? Madness!"-the old man said, as he waved off the pale man's request, but the warrior wasn't gonna stop, now that he suspects there might be a way.

"If it's madness, then who better to show me the way."-the stranger said in amusement about indirectly calling the Crowfather mad, as he walked up the steps until he was on the same level as the old sorcerer.

"Should a way exist, for both you and the outworlders…"-the Crowfather began as he waved his hand and dark purple energy gathered in said hand. Then the energy condensed and showed an image of a lush green land with a gigantic tree who's branches melted with the very Heavens.-"You will find it here."

"The Tree of Life…"-the stranger realized as he approached the portal.

The heroes now believed that this could be end of their brief journey, even though they still had so many questions regarding the stranger that would go unanswered. But Fate had other plans, as the Crowfather clenched his opened hand into a fist and the portal abruptly closed, which irritated the warrior and surprised the heroes.

"Let me pass."-the Horseman ordered, but the old man wasn't done talking.

"Not yet!"-said the Crowfather as he presented the amulet hanging from his neck, which the heroes now noticed that it was emitting a smoke-like green miasma-"First, that which you have given to me…you will take it back."

The warrior narrowed his firey eyes at the site of the object as he said-"In exchange for its secrets you have agreed to keep the amulet."

"No! You don't understand!"-the Crowfather said with distress and panic in his voice-"The voices. They curse and threaten without end. They cry to return. YOU MUST DESTROY IT!"

The heroes are starting to believe that this Wizard of Oz was clearly insane, but when they looked towards the stranger, he hung his head in what they could only suspect was shame as he spoke softly-"I…cannot."

"You have annihilated their flesh!"-the Crowfather argued, seeming desperate to get rid of the amulet-"Why do you still guard their souls?"

The warrior in response unsheathed his scythes and crossed them in front of himself in a threatening manner.-"Open the portal."-the stranger demanded with a lethal edge in his voice.

The Crowfather was surprised by this response, but then his anger returned full circle as he threateningly said-"You will not pass…while I live."

"So be it…"-the stranger said, as he was ready to strike the sorcerer…until the old man shoved him off the higher level with a blast of purple magic, which launched the warrior onto the ground.

The heroes had to part like the Red Sea ***author: see what I did there?*** as the stranger slid on the ground, using his scythes to stop himself. Once he stopped, he glared towards the Crowfather who was now floating in the air.

"Here your brethren are trapped in eternal torment! Do you wish to join them?"-the Crowfather asked, seeming to provoke the warrior-"And what of War? Would you kill your brother to protect your precious balance?"

"HE IS INNOCENT!"-the stranger declared determinedly

"Are you so certain?..."-those were the Crowfather's last words, as he burst in a storm of crows which flew straight towards the stranger.

He was then forced to raise his scythes in front of his head, as the crows flew right past him, scratching him relentlessly across his body, like a dark sandstorm. Once that was over, the warrior looked behind himself and saw the crow storm vanish in the hallway. Before he could run out and look for the Crowfather the heroes all approached him and Rex was the first to ask:

"Uh, dude what the hell was that? And what was that old guy talking about?"

"Yeah and just what exactly was all that talk of you killing him?"-Vamber added

"Ooooh, looks like somebody's in trouble. Hehehe."-Woody said, but earned himself a slap over the head by Yumi.

"As I said before,"-the stranger began, although he had a very agitated tone in his voice-"My matters are of no concern to any of you. Now I must go and find the Crowfather again in order to-"-the stranger abruptly stopped as his eyes widened slightly.

"What? What's wrong?"-Star asked curiously…and in the next second she and the other heroes were pushed all the way to the throne by a purple wave of magic, which originated from the stranger.

Once they all stopped, they saw that the warrior had somehow erected a forcefield around the entire room, and they couldn't get in. Before they could start shouting question about what the stranger was up to, they saw the possible reason for his actions.

Another warrior stepped through the entrance, and this one was noticeably different from the stranger. For one this new warrior was much taller and much bulkier, part of the reason probably being all of the pieces of armor strapped to various parts of his body; especially the massive gauntlet on his left hand. The warrior had a crimson red hood over his head, and his face was shrouded in shadows. The only distinguishing features everyone could make out were the firey orange eyes and the upside down trident symbol. Finally, the warrior carried a very large broadsword over his right shoulder. The blade had smooth but sharp edges, and flat part of the blade was of darker color and looked like a cluster of faces that were screaming in agony.

The stranger turned to the swordsman and readied himself for the upcoming battle.

The two warriors then charged at each other and their weapons clashed. This caused a small shockwave and the force of the combined attacks forced the two opponents to slide away from each other. The heroes were surprised by the raw power these two carried with them, which only made their resolve in joining the fray strengthen.

"Hey come on dude let us out!"-Rex shouted as he kept hitting the barrier

"Yeah we can help you fight!"-Buttercup added, hitting the barrier with all her might.

"You stay out of this!"-the stranger shouted, addressing all of them-"This battle does not concern any of you!"

"But we can help you win this!"-Ben shouted, half tempted to go Humungosaur or Fourarms and destroy this barrier.

"Warrior please, just let us prove our strength to you and you will see-"

"Be silent!"-the warrior exclaimed, cutting off Jack's pleading, and dashed forward into battle

"Well that could've gone better."-Prohyas stated

"Gee, ya think?"-Jenny asked sarcastically

"Why are we even doing this?"-Amethyst wondered outloud-"I mean, the guy said he can handle himself, so let's just let him do his thing."

While the purple gem did bring up a valid point, that still didn't dissuade certain individuals, like Steven, who turned to ask the one person he knows would have a good answer:

"Garnet, can you use your future vision to see if he will be okay?"

The tall fusion was silent for a moment, before turning to answer Steven's question-"To tell you the truth Steven…I can't."

And just like that the crystal gems were more shocked than ever before.

 **XXX**

Back in the battle, the stranger striking the swordsman multiple times with his scythes, and yet ever injury he caused healed almost instantly. While he knew that this individual could heal just as much as he could, he certainly never was able to heal that fast.

' _Something isn't right.'_ -the stranger thought as he backed up from a downward slash.

He then shot forward and was about to attack again, but the swordsman raised his sword and was about to stab the ground with it. Knowing what was about to come, the stranger tried to stop himself, but unfortunately he couldn't and when he got close enough, the blade sunk into the ground. At that exact moment, dozens of red-hot blades, similar in appearance to the swordsman's broadsword, sprung out of the ground like a geizer of blades, shielding the hooded warrior and knocking the scythe wielder back.

When he managed to stop himself, the stranger looked at his body, and saw dozens of cuts and gashes covering every part of his body that wasn't armored.

' _That will become troublesome very quickly.'_ -the stranger thought with irritation.

Thinking quickly, the stranger charged forward yet again, but this time he crossed his scythes in front of him. Then as quick as the blink of an eye, the stranger zoomed right through the swordsman, creating a small ditch a few feet behind the red warrior, who fell to his knees. At the same time a few small green lights came out of the red warrior and flew into the scythe wielder and then his injuries healed very quickly.

Recovering from his opponent's attack, the swordsman got back up to his feet and jumped towards the stranger raising his sword up and intent on cutting him in half. Ignoring the heroes warning cries, the stranger quickly turned around, jumped towards the swordsman, and roughly planted his right boot into the red warrior's stomach. The he stomped on the warrior's face and with all his might, used the swordsman as a springboard and jumped further away, launching his foe into the ground.

The swordsman got up to his feet and raised his sword, then swung down to the ground, and that was when smaller versions of his sword sprung out of the ground, but formed a small cluster which raced towards the stranger. Seeing this the masked man jumped over it, just before the blade cluster stopped at the spot he was at and sprung out of the ground.

The warrior then ran forward, the swordsman doing the same and when they reach each other, the swordsman swung his giant blade down on the stranger, who connected his twin scythes into the double-bladed scythe form to block the attack. This resulted in a stalemate, with the swordsman even putting his giant left hand on his blade to add pressure. But the stranger wasn't gonna give up so easily.

The scythe wielder pushed the red warrior off with all his might, and proceeded to strike the swordsman multiple times with his twin scythes, before reconnecting them again, launching the swordsman into the air, then jumping up and striking the still airborne swordsman with an upward slash. The stranger landed perfectly on his feet, while the swordsman crashed into the ground, creating a small crater in the process.

The heroes were impressed by the stranger's fighting skills so far, and believed that maybe Amethyst was right and he wouldn't need their help after all.

After the swordsman got back up, he positioned his sword in front of him, and the eyes of the faces on the blade began to glow green. While the heroes didn't know what that meant, the scythe wielder knew exactly was coming next. So he lifted his unified scythe and at that moment hundreds of black crows began to gather around the room.

The red warrior then pointed his sword forward and several sickly green colored skulls with long spinal columns attached to them flew out of the blade. That was when the pale warrior pointed his scythe forward and the murder of crows flew forward, intercepting the skeletal apparitions. The two attacks intercepted in the middle and a small explosion occurred, throwing up a thick cloud of dust and debris.

And this was a moment the swordsman used as an opportunity to turn the tides of this battle.

While the stranger couldn't see past the smoke, the heroes saw how the red warrior ran into the smokescreen and with a sudden burst of speed, shot right towards the stranger, before any of them could even give a warning out.

When the swordsman shot out of the dust loud, he rammed right into the scythe wielder's torso, using his giant gauntlet as a battering ram. The stranger was about to be launched away, but the swordsman grabbed his leg with his giant gauntlet, pulled him back, grabbed the scythe wielder's head with his right gauntlet and smashed him to the ground. Hard. But the swordsman wasn't done yet, because he then stomped onto the stranger's torso, then tossed the stranger several meters behind him.

This sudden twist shocked the heroes and some have even started to worry about wether or not the stranger will live through this ordeal.

"Ooookay, so I was wrong…"-said Amethyst, who honestly didn't know what else to say regarding the situation.

"He's gonna die out there! We have to help!"-Steven shouted, looking at every hero present for a solution

"How?"-Buttercup asked the half gem-"Even with our super strength we can't break this stupid barrier.

"Then we just keep hitting it until it breaks!"-Yumi shouted angrily as she started kicking the barrier, desperately wanting to help her latest crush.

"Well my magic wand is a bust."-Star added, blasting the barrier again-"And I'm pretty sure you don't have any magical dohikeys to help us, right Jun?"

"For once I don't…"-the Te Xuan Ze answered, which only left the heroes to keep watching the unfolding battle.

The stranger was in serious pain. The battle was clearly taking longer than he thought and his opponent was clearly stronger than he would have imagined. He was also having a bit of trouble getting up, but this wouldn't stop the swordsman from finishing the job.

The afore mentioned warrior lifted his sword yet again and after striking the ground with it, a cluster of blades was racing towards the still injured stranger.

This also made the heroes determination to break free from the barrier even more, and while they were focusing on that, nobody noticed the dim glow coming from a certain boy's bellybutton.

"No, please stop this! Please just STOP!"-Steven shouted, and that was when an explosion of pink light erupted from his gem and shattered the barrier, but in the process blinded everyone else, even the two warriors.

When the light faded, the stranger thought he was ran through by the blade cluster, but when he looked up, he saw an interesting sight. Right in front of him was a very large, translucent pink disk, with spiky swirl—which looked like thorny vine—ending in a rose in the center. And standing before the stranger was none other than Steven Universe, who was the one holding the shield.

"What—ugh—do you think you're doing boy?"-the stranger asked, surprised and pissed that this little boy was, not only going against his orders, but was also somehow able to get past his barrier.

"I'm helping you out mister."-Steven replied-"I wasn't gonna let that other guy just kill you."

Looking forward, the stranger saw that indeed Steven was able to stop the blade cluster form making contact with him. But before the pale man could chastise Steven further for disobeying him, the blade cluster disappeared, and they immediately saw the swordsman leap towards them, sword cocked back for an attack.

While the stranger still struggled to get back up to his feet, Steven stood strong, with his shield held up. When the swordsman landed, he struck the shield with so much force, Steven was knocked off his feet and his shield shattered into pieces. Now the half gem was truly afraid of what will happen, as he looked into the swordsman's emotionless orange eyes.

"Wait, stop! Don't you think this is enough? Can't we just talk things through?"-Steven tried to plead, but the swordsman merely lifted his sword with the intent to kill both Steven and the stranger with one shot.

But just then a large fireball slammed into the red warrior's back, and forced him onto one knee. Looking behind himself, the warrior saw a humanoid being made of stone and fire with a green hourglass symbol on its chest. Seeing this being, Steven knew immediately who it was, while the stranger suspected who it might be.

"Hey big guy! Didn't your mom ever teach that it's not cool to hit a kid?"-the fire being said in a raspy voice, but by listening to the terrible taunt, the stranger knew immediately that it was Ben.

The swordsman didn't say a word, only got back to his feet and started advancing towards Ben. The alien hero then blasted a stream of fire at the swordsman, which slowed him down somewhat. After the fire stream stopped, a brown shoe collided with the swordsman's head, and smashed it into the ground. Once that was accomplished, Juniper jumped off the downed warrior and landed a few feet away from him.

"Nice one Juny."-Ben complimented her with a thumbs up.

"Right back at ya Heatblast!"-Juniper shot back, also with a thumbs up

But their celebration was cut short, when the swordsman ogt back up to his feet and raised his sword, with the intent of bisecting Juniper. The swordsman then felt something wrap around his right wrist, and looking at it he saw a black whip studded with purple gems. Following the whip, he saw Amethyst holding the end of it with a challenging grin. After a second she changed her body into a larger and more muscular version, complete with an eye mask.

"Hey buddy! You're gonna feel THIS in the morning!"-as soon as Amethyst said the word 'this' she swung her whip, lifting the swordsman up and smashing hi to the ground on the other side of the chamber.

After getting back up he saw the Powerpuff girls hovering above him with determined looks on their faces.

"Alright girls, let's show this guy what happens when you mess with heroes. Hit him with everything you got!"-Blossom ordered as the super toddler trio flew towards the red warrior.

First Bubbles flew in and unleashed her sonic scream, although it didn't even seem to stun the warrior, who simply swatted her away with the flat side of his sword. Bubbles crashed into a nearby wall, but fortunately wasn't injured or unconscious.

"You shouldn't have done that pal!"-Buttercup yelled as she closed her eyes and shot a pair of red eyebeams at the warrior, who used the palm of his left gauntlet as a shield.

The problem was that Buttercup was flying straight towards him with the intent of using brute force once she got close enough. But as soon as she got close enough, the swordsman wrapped his giant gauntlet around her head and smashed her onto the ground, creating a small crater in the process.

"Urgh, nntt nngiinnn!"-Buttercup mumbled annoyingly into the metal appendage

Before anything else could happen, a series of missiles struck the warrior, forcing a few steps back and letting go of the green powerpuff, who flew a good distance away from him. The warrior looked up and saw Jenny hovering and pointing a pair of missile launchers at him.

Before the swordsman could respond a sudden blast of cold air struck him from the side. Looking in the direction the air came from, revealed Blossom to be the source. Then ice began to form on the warrior's body, until he was completely incased in ice. For a few seconds nothing happened, until the warrior suddenly broke free, launching ice shards everywhere.

After shaking off the last of the ice, the warrior was struck in the chest by a series of pink energy blasts, thanks to Star.

"Oh yeah! Take that you bastard!"-Star shouted in an exited tone as she kept firing blast after blast.

That was when Prohyas and Vamber stepped beside the Mewnian princess and pulled out their respective magiswords.

Prohyas pulled out:

 **DOLPHIN MAGISWORD**

While Vamber pulled out:

 **BOOMERANG MAGISWORD**

"You ready sis?"-Prohyas asked his older sister

"Absolutely dear brother."-Vamber answered, and they both unleashed their respective powers

"Dolphin water!"-Prohyas shouted as his Dolphin Magisword shot a torrent of water out of her mouth, while Vamber simply tossed the boomerang shaped blade of her magisword at their opponent.

Unfortunately none of their attacks had any effect on the swordsman, who simply punched the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked the princess and the two mercenaries one their butts. Just as the swordsman was about to go forth and kill the three heroes, a loud yell alerted him to look up and saw none other than Samurai Jack heading straight towards him, with his katana sword cocked back for a devastating strike.

As soon as the magical katana made contact with the giant broadsword, a bright flash occurred, and the very force behind Jack's attack actually forced the warrior back a few steps. Once he landed Jack wasted no time and went engage the red warrior in a deadly sword fight. While Jack's sword strikes were fast and strong, the warrior on the other hand was extremely sturdy and resilient, able to still keep up with the samurai's attacks. After another minute of non-stop sword swinging, Jack's eyes suddenly widened and he quickly jumped out of the way just as a large piece of frosted earth struck the warrior's chest. Though that didn't hurt so much, due to the armor the swordsman wore, the next few made him feel a slight bit of pain.

Looking up he saw the culprit being Rex, who's right arm was replaced by a large cannon-like weapon. The evo teen then turned his arm back to normal and advanced towards the swordsman.

"Hey man, why don't you pick on someone-"-he interrupted himself as he turned his right arm into a giant orange sword and continued-"-with a _really_ big sword?"

Accepting the challenge, the swordsman dashed forward and collided his broadsword with Rex's. While Rex may not be the best swordsman in the world, like his partner Six or Samurai Jack, he was still able to wield his mechanical sword with enough precision to do some damage. Even in this current fight Rex relied more on the brute force behind his swings, as evidenced how much he was pushing the swordsman back. But the red warrior wasn't gonna give up so easily, as after deflecting another one of Rex's strikes, he suddenly grabbed the orange blade with his left gauntlet, and after applying some pressure to the grip, crushed the blade into tiny pieces.

Rex backed up a bit and looked at his broken sword in shock, then back at the warrior…who was now charging towards him. That was when Rex turned his right arm back to normal and turned his left arm into a black mechanical hand which produced a bright blue force field.

The swordsman struck Rex's shield, but only succeeded in pushing the evo hero back. Then the swordsman started striking the hardlight shield continuously, and while the shield could withstand harsh punishments Rex's wasn't sure how long he'd be able to hold out. But luckily for him, he wasn't alone in this fight.

"REX!"-Ben shouted, causing Rex to look to his left-"Toss him to me man, I'm open!"-Ben shouted again, as he activated his Omnitrix again and turned into- **"Four Arms!"** -yeah, that guy.

Anyway, realizing what his friend had in mind, Rex pushed his shield forward and bashed the swordsman in the face with it, pushing him back a few steps. The Rex turned his left arm back to normal and transformed his right arm into long, black metallic tentacle, with a back-pak looking cylindrical device appearing on his back as well.

Rex then wrapped his tentacle around the warrior's large gauntlet and after swinging the swordsman around himself once, he tossed him towards the four armed alien.

Once he was close enough, Four Arms uppercut him, launching the warrior into the air.

"Four Arms! Over here!"-Garnet shouted to Ben's left, and realizing what the fusion wanted, Ben obliged by punching the red warrior in the gut after descending back to the ground.

That was when the swordsman flew towards Garnet, who summoned her gauntlets and even coated them in purple lightning energy. As the swordsman drew closer, all Garnet said was-"This is for Steven, you bastard!"-and then she punched the large man in the face with all her might, launching him away from her.

Having enough of behind tossed around like a ragdoll, the warrior stuck his sword into the ground and stopped himself right in the middle of the chamber. A few seconds later he was pelted by cyan laser bolts from above. Looking up, he saw Pearl descend upon him, with her lance cocked back for an attack. Once she was in range her lance collided with the swordsman's right gauntlet.

Then she started wildly hacking and slashing at the red warrior, but he simply held up his sword as a shield. Then the swordsman knocked Pearl's lance out of her hands and before she could summon another, the swordsman roughly kicked her in the stomach, knocking her on her ass and making her slide a few feet away.

Seeing their friend in danger the Crystal Gems drew their respective weapons and rushed to Pearl's aid. However, the swordsman leapt towards her with his sword raised to strike her down. Pearl knew her friends wouldn't get to her in time, so she simply closed her eyes and accepted her fate.

' _I'm sorry Rose, I've let you down…Garnet…Amethyst…Steven…I'm sorry…'_ -Pearl thought as the shadow of the warrior was looming over her.

However instead of feeling…something for being shattered, Pearl instead heard the sound of metal clashing against metal. When she opened her eyes, she bared witness to something quite unexpected. The masked stranger was there, standing right in front of her, holding the swordsman back with his long-pole scythe. Up until this point she thought this man was just a selfish ingrate who was looking out for himself, but seeing him actually stepping in and saving her life was truly a surprise. Her musing were cut short however, when she felt Garnet's strong arm wrap around her waist and pulling her away from this upcoming clash.

After breaking the stalemate, the scythe wielder began hacking at the swordsman once again, but this time the swordsman caught the scythe when it was about to strike his left side. The red warrior was about bisect the stranger, but he jumped to the side and then behind the swordsman several meters way.

After perfectly landing on his feet, the stranger ran towards the swordsman, holding his scythe behind himself. The swordsman did the same, and when the two warriors met in the middle the sound of metal piercing flesh was heard. The swordsman's sword missed the stranger's chest, but the stranger's scythe found its mark, stabbing right through the swordsman's chest. They stood still like this for a few more seconds, before the stranger forcibly pulled his weapon out of the swordsman, and turned his back to him, not seeing how the red warrior collapsed on the ground.

While the heroes still didn't condone such a thing, they were too busy being surprised by the fact that the red swordsman dissipated in a cloud of black crows and was replaced by no one other than the Crowfather himself.

"Wait…"-Eddy said from where he and the rest of the none combatants were watching the fight-"Ya mean to tell me we've been fighting that old geezer this whole time!?"

"Who's we you iiidiot?"-Dexter inquired-"It was only Blossom and the other heroes who faced off against the old man. _You_ didn't do squat."

"Ya wanna say that again shrimp!"-Eddy challenged, as he and Dexter were glaring fiercely at each other.

"Will you two please stop! This isn't over yet."-Ami said, separating the two boys.

And right she was. After recovering from the failed battle, the Crowfather tried to desperately crawl away from the Horseman, but he was having none of that; the Horseman pulled back his scythe and stabbed the Crowfather in the back, with the blade sticking out of his stomach. The stranger than lifted his weapon, with the old man now stuck to the blade, and stabbed it into the ground.

The heroes were shocked more than ever now, seeing the stranger actually wanting to go through with killing the only person who can, not only help him in whatever quest he is in, but help them get back to their world.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!"-Rex demanded as he and the other heroes were making their way towards the unfolding scene

"You can't kill him! He's our only way back to Earth!"-Pearl tried to reason with him, but the warrior didn't listen to any of them, as he stepped closer to the Crowfather and grabbed his face, while saying:

"Open up the portal!"-the Horseman demanded, then he pulled the old sorcerer off the blade of his weapon and tossed him behind himself.

The Crowfather tried to stand on his feet, but the strain of the battle and everything else in his long lifetime, has taken its toll on him and he finally collapsed on the ground, the amulet coming loose and landing a few meters away from him.

"Your secrets die with you…"-the stranger said, as he eased his stance-"…old fool."

"My secrets…"-the Crowfather whispered his final words-"…but not yours…"

And with that, not only did the Crowfather's life finally saw an end, but the amulet cracked and broke into several green shards. The shards floated in the air for a few seconds before flying straight towards a wide eyed Horseman. The shards then embedded themselves into the stranger's right side of his chest, and while he tried to claw the shards off, they simple wouldn't budge and burnt themselves into his very flesh.

Meanwhile the Crowfather's body dissipated into another cloud of black crows and then turned into a black and purple colored portal. The stranger felt immense pain as the shards finally stopped burning his body, but it proved too much and the stranger lost consciousness.

The heroes on the other hand were witnessing the portal grow and pull everything into it, like a miniature black hole. They weren't sure about going in there, but since the Crowfather opened a portal that could lead them to somewhere, than honestly anywhere else would be better than this ice box.

"Everybody!"-Rex shouted-"Get ready to jump in!"

"What?! Are you crazy?! No way am I jumping into that thing! I prefer living over dying!"-Woody yelled, doing his best to hold on.

"No, wait, Rex is right!"-Jack interjected-"The old wise man may have given us a path that could lead us back to our world!"

"Are you sure about this mister Jack?!"-Marco wondered out loud, not wanting to die either at such a young age.

"Would ya rather take your chances in their ***points to the portal*** or would ya rather freeze to death here?!"-Ben asked, making Marco's decision a very easy one.

"Alright, let's do thiiiiiiiis…!"-Rex shouted as he let himself be pulled into the black hole.

The others were reluctant at first, but remembering Ben's question towards Marco, they decide to take their chances.

"Aiya, not agaaaaaaain….!"-Yumi screamed as she was eventually pulled into the portal as well.

While everyone got through the portal, the stranger's unconscious form still lay on the ground, however the force of the portal proved to be stronger and eventually, the stranger went along for the ride.

And so begins a quest that would determine the fate of, not just humanity, but the fate of every world in all of Creation.

 **XXX**

 **A/N: FINALLY!**

 **I am so sorry about making you guys wait for so long, but doing not one, but TWO diploma thesis's was no joke.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys will like this chapter, although I do feel like I could've done more with the interactions between the characters and between Death and the characters. However, this is the first time I'm writing about soooo many characters in a single story, so it's gonna be one hell of challenge for me. However, I do hope that the fight between War and, well, everyone compensates well enough.**

 **Anyway, I know I said in the last chapter that there wasn't gonna be a fight between Death and the heroes, but I needed something to tie everything together. And speaking of which, I know some of you guys—and by that I mean ALL of you guys—are gonna complain about why didn't I use Death's actual name in this chapter. Well the reason for that is because, I was trying to wright this from the point of view from the cartoon characters and so I was trying to keep an air of mystery. But don't worry y'all. Death will reveal himself in the next chapter, where—hopefully—some questions that the heroes have might be answered.**

 **Well, that's it for now, and I hope to see you guys next time. La revedere!**


	3. The Land of Makers

**The Land of Makers. Resolution to internal conflicts?**

 _ **Crowfather:**_

 _The uncountable worlds in our universe and beyond swirl in an endless Abyss. Those that were ravaged by time or conflict are swallowed by the Abyss. Returned to the Nothingness from where they were born._

 _But others linger for eternity. On the brink of annihilation. That creation would one day be balanced by destruction._

 _And in the final moment of battle Death and the outworlders were sent to one such world. In the autumn of its life. Yet not far from the edge of Darkness._

 _Had Death and the outworlders been sent to their doom? That answer would lie in the Horseman's future…and his past._

 **XXX**

Darkness. That was the only thing Rex was able to see. He didn't know if this was Hell or if he was kidnapped by Van Kliess and he was now in some secret laboratory or something. But there was one thing he was one hundred percent sure about…whatever was nudging him by his side, was really frickin' annoying.

Having enough of this annoyance, Rex opened his eyes to be greeted by clear blue skies, fresh air and…a gigantic bearded man starring down at him?

Startled by this Rex quickly scrambled to his feet and summoned his sword, which he pointed at the old man, whom he noticed was _really_ tall.

"Calm yourself outworlder. You are in no danger. Yet…"-the man said in a wise and booming voice.

This was when Rex took a moment to examine the man's appearance further. Remember when I said the guy's tall? Scratch that! The guy is a frickin' giant, about the size of a small house for that matter. His large and wide body was covered in silver armor, with golden edges. His hands were like large balls with fingers. Most of his face was obscured by a large, white beard that was carefully braded, although the teen evo could still see the giant's glowing blue eyes, which weren't terrifying at all but rather calm and peaceful, unlike the frozen undead from before. From his helmet, two golden horns sprung up, forming a sort of semicircle. In his left hand he held a long metal staff with an impressive ornament at the end of it, which resembled his helmet.

This elderly giant seemed sincere in his words and Rex could clearly tell, but something he said at the end reignited the teen evo's sense of edge.

"Hold on gramps. You said I wasn't in any danger _yet_. What's that supposed to mean?"

"I will tell you, young one."-the giant spoke softly again-"But perhaps it would be wise if your friends could hear what I have to say as well."

Hearing this reminded Rex that his friends were still with him. He retracted his sword and turned to see that everyone was just getting back to their feet. Noticing that a certain bot was having some difficulty, Rex ran up to her and helped her up.

"Jen are you okay?"-Rex asked, with a modicum of concern in his voice.

Jenny's eye screens flickered through some random images for a few seconds, before returning back to normal.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Th-thanks Rex."-Jenny said as she shakily got up to her feet

"Ugh, did anyone get the number of the truck that just ran me over?"-Eddy groaned as he dizzily got up to his feet as well.

"I do not believe it was a truck that knocked us out Eddy."-Jack said as he steadied himself

"Sensei's right, you little dumbass."-Buttercup added as she started floating again-"We were sucked into a portal, remember?"

"What did you just call me, ya little shit?"-Eddy shot back as he glared at the glaring green powerpuff girl.

"Young Edward and Buttercup, please mind your language! You two are still too young for such words, and anyway you shouldn't be swearing at all."-Pearl chided the two bickering children, like a mother would her own kids.

"PEARL!"-said white gem was suddenly assaulted by a very happy Steven that latched onto her midsection-"You didn't poof like before! YAY!"

"Hey don't forget about us Steve-man!"-Amethyst interjected as she and Garnet stood on the side being themselves, just like Pearl.

Not wanting for his friends to be left out, Steven let go of Pearl and hugged the remaining gems as well.

Once everyone was up on their feet, Ben was the first to ask the question-"Okay so, where the heck are we right now? 'Cause last I remember we were in some weird and creepy snowland."

"Why don't we ask him?"-Rex suggested as he looked towards the giant elder, as did everyone else, with some mixed reactions.

"Whoa, you're huge!"-Steven said with wonder in his voice and stars in his eyes-"You're even bigger than Alexandrite!"

"Ahem, I do believe it is impolite to say somebody is 'huge' Steven."-Dexter said-"Some people could interpret it in a negative way."

Knowing the redhead genius was right Steven looked sheepishly at the old giant and said-"Oh, I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to insult you or anything."

But instead of being angry or offended or both, the giant simply chuckled good heartedly and said-"It is quite alright young one. I know you meant nothing by what you have said."

Steven smiled and felt relieved that he didn't insult anyone by accident, and Rex took this as his que to step forward and speak-"Alright everyone's awake. _Now_ are you gonna start telling us what we need to know?"

' _Hopefully this guy won't be like the last guy we met.'_ -Prohyas thought- _'Hey where is that scythe guy anyway?'_

The giant elder began speaking as he turned to look at a certain spot on the ground:

"I will, but I believe I said I will give you answers when _everyone_ is awake. And this one is just about to rise again."

Looking towards where the giant was pointing towards, the heroes saw the body of the pale stranger, who killed the Crowfather, their only means of getting back to Earth. Remembering that little nugget of detail everyone bore an angry, or at the very least upset look, but refrained from saying anything. At least until they find out where are they now and how will they get out of this mess.

The stranger was stirring as the giant reached with his left index finger towards the right side of the warrior's chest, where the broken fragments of the green amulet lay imbedded.

The scythe wielder's eyes finally opened and after getting his focus back together again, he was treated to the sight of the elder giant's bearded face.

"Be still horseman, for you are wounded."-as he said that the giant's finger touched the fragments, causing a small burst of green miasma to puff out and onto his finger.

The warrior then scrambled onto his feet and glared at the elder-"Don't touch me."-he warned, as the giant finished examining the miasma, then began making his way to a nearby statue and spoke.

"Your arrival here is a bad omen. Yes…troubles me greatly…"-the elder said ominously, which didn't bode well for the heroes.

"Old one!"-the horseman addressed the giant, who still had his back to him-"There will be more trouble ahead if you don't start making some sense. Where is the Tree of Life?"

"Life?"-the giant asked then chuckled bitterly as he began explaining-"This world is dying lad. Chocking on chaos and corruption. We can do little to stop it. Soon the great tree too shall fall and with it the last of my people. Is this not what brought you here pale rider?"

This took the heroes by surprise, for it would appear even other worlds had certain issues. Go figure.

"Well…"-Blossom began-"If it's that bad than shouldn't we help?"

"Off course we should."-Rex spoke up with determination-"We're heroes. Helping people is kinda our thing."

"I am _only_ here for the Tree."-the rider interjected, getting everyone's attention-"This chaos and corruption is of no concern to me."

"Uhhh…m-mister…"-Steven said as he shakily pointed to something behind the warrior.

"What in Heaven's name is THAT?!"-Double D asked as he also pointed behind the warrior.

The horseman turned around and saw what could only be described as a mass of writhing black tentacles coming out of the ground, surrounded by a sickly yellow aura. The tentacles, which looked shiny and oily like some kind of living liquid, began pulling large rocks together and formed a literal stone body, with a few additional stones forming a club in its right hand.

All the warrior did was sigh in annoyance before unsheathing his twin scythes and zoomed forward, appearing behind the corrupted construct. A few seconds later the stone body of the construct exploded and the dark corruption sunk back into the ground.

The warrior turned towards the heroes and was about to say something before multiple tentacled black puddles emerged all around them, each turning into a stone construct. Shortly after a blue transparent dome of energy surrounded them and the elder spoke once again:

"It will be your concern soon enough rider."

The heroes looked around and prepared themselves for a new battle.

"Alright guys."-Ben said as he activated the Omnitrix-"I guess we're doing this. Now let's play fair here, there's plenty of these guys for everyone."

"Okay, but just make sure none of that black liquid gets on you."-Blossom ordered.

"Blossom is right."-Jack added as he drew his katana-"Until we know for sure what we are dealing with stay away from the black liquid."

"Pfft, don't have to tell me twice mister Jack."-Juniper said getting ready to attack-"My clothes are already ruined by that wolf monster. No way I'm gonna stain them with that stuff."

"Then I guess-"-Ben began as he was ready to slam down the Omnitrix's faceplate-"IT'S HERO TIME!"

And with that there was a green flash of light and Ben turned into a large, robust white creature, with small stocky legs and huge thick hands—similar to the elder giant's. It also had a series of yellow plates on its hands, legs and running down its black back. The creature also had a pair of yellow eyes and a wide mouth on its chest. After the transformation was done, Ben's new form shouted:

" **Cannonbolt!** Alright let's rock and roll!"-and with that this new alien, Cannonbolt, rolled into a literal yellow ball and shot forward, destroying the first construct.

"Pfft, show off."-Rex said as he brought a pair of dark blue appendages, which had glowing, ball like ends, which he swung at the other constructs, like a pair of mechanical maces.

"Really Ben?!"-Jenny asked as she uppercut a corrupted construct-"'Rock and roll' while using Cannonbolt?! ***blast another*** That's the lamest pun I've heard so far!"

"Oh good, 'cause I thought I was the only one to think that."-Vamber added as she used her Frogmissile Magisword against a group of approaching constructs.

Cannonbolt stopped rolling after another minute and after uncurling himself he said-"Aw c'mon guys, that was one of my best ones!"-he said then backhanded one of the constructs without even looking.

The stranger was hard at work as well, slicing one construct after another with his scythes.-"Is this really something to be discussed at a time like this?!"

One of the corrupted golems was trying to sneak up behind him, but Bubbles blasted it to bits using her laser eye beams.-"Oh don't worry mister, that's just how Ben usually is."

"Indeed."-Jack said as he was using his sword to defend himself against one of the golems-"Although I must agree with you warrior, now is not the time for such-"

The samurai's momentary distraction allowed the opposing construct to slam its club into him and launching him several feet away, before landing on the ground. Jack only had a moment to recover, before the construct ran over to him and was about to bring its club down on him. But the samurai had the better experience, and he swung his sword in an ark to deflect the stone weapon, and then he quickly got back up to his feet. Afterwards he stabbed his sword into the stone golem, through an opening at its chest area.

For a moment the construct just froze in place, then its stone shell fell apart and instead of sinking back into the ground, the black blob of corruption simply solidified, before shriveling into dust. This caught Jack by surprise, as he had no idea if this was something common with this substance when it's defeated, or if it was because of his sword.

His victory was also noticed by the giant as well, who stroke his beard in thought.-"Hmm, interesting…"

After that the last construct was destroyed by Buttercup's eyebeams and the battle was over.

"YEAH! You guys did it again!"-Steven was the first to proclaim their victory, not noticing that the barrier disappeared.

"I could have handled it myself."-the stranger said as he replaced his scythes onto his belt.

"Sure you could have buddy."-Rex said sarcastically, as he retracted his weapons.

"You fight well, all of you."-the giant spoke once again, getting everyone's attention-"But this Corruption cannot be defeated by a blade, brute force or whatever abilities you all may yield."

"Oh yeah? Well then check again grandpa, 'cause we just beat those chumps with our 'abilities'."-Buttercup said with a little too much arrogance for my taste.

"Buttercup!"-Blossom chided her sister, but the elder spoke up again, before she could say anything else.

"All you have done is defeat the constructs it made child, but not the corruption itself."-if the giant was offended by what the green powerpuff said earlier he didn't show it-"Now go and seek out the Forge Sister, ask her about the Fire in the Mountain. Help her and she will help you reach the tree. As for me, I must return to my work."

Well this wasn't what the heroes wanted to hear at all. They wanted to know where they were and how to get back to their world. Instead this old giant told them to find some girl and ask her about some volcano or something. This clearly wasn't what they wanted.

"And who are _you_ to command a rider?"-the stranger suddenly demanded, obviously referring to himself, and while the heroes didn't really like his attitude, this might be a good chance to know more about the giant.

"My name is Eideard and I am a Maker."-the giant proclaimed-"Older than even the Charred Council. These hands once laid the foundations of many worlds. Now they but hardly know the touch of stone."

"WAIT!"-Dexter suddenly shouted, getting everyone's attention, including Eideard's, to whom he spoke to-"Let me see if I understand this correctly: you, Mr. Eideard, are telling me that _you_ are the one who literally creates planets, as well as create the right atmospheric conditions for them, the correct plant- and wildlife, and quite frankly the appropriate living conditions for each planet?"

The level of amusement dripping from Dexter's voice as he asked that long and worded question was enough to fill a bucket. While most of the heroes didn't really understand most of what the boy genius asked, some like Blossom, Jack and even Double D didn't really approve of the tone of voice he used. Surprisingly though Eideard wasn't insulted at all by Dexter's question, or if he was he hid it quite well.

"As a Maker it is my duty to simply lay the stone foundations of every world."-Eideard calmly explained-"We are not responsible for what grows on these worlds. Only time and Fate decide that. Although I can understand why you would doubt my words young one. For your world is one of many that are born on their own, without the aid of a Maker."

"Hey hold on a second."-Juniper interjected-"How do _you_ know about our world?"

"As a Maker it is my duty to have knowledge of as many worlds as possible, even those that aren't made by us, young Te Xuan Ze."

Though the answer seemed a little too vague for her taste, it almost didn't surprise Juniper at all that some magical creature from another world would know _what_ she is. She met people like this before.

Although after a few more seconds of silence, Dexter spoke up once again-"Well forgive me if I still do not believe what you are saying. As a man of science I would need some proof before I take your word at face value."

"Pfft, since when are _you_ a man, shrimp?"-Eddy said, not being able to resist the opportunity to dis Dexter.

"Oh, oh, maybe Dexter's a man who's mind was put into the body of a kid."-Ed added-"Just like in the comic book 'My mind in the body of a kid'."

"Oh be quiet you two."-Dexter told the two dumb Eds.

Shaking his head with an annoyed sigh, the stranger spoke once again, changing the subject in order to move along-"Aren't you curious as to why I or a group of outworlders seek the Tree Old One?"

"I believe it to be obvious why the outworlders seek the Tree."-the old Maker responded-"And I would not dare to question one of the Four. But please tell me."

"I would use its power to restore humanity and redeem my brother War."-the stranger gave his answer, something which the heroes still didn't fully understand.

"Heaven and Hell clash upon the Shattered Earth."-Eideard told the rider-"All of Creation trembles. And in the center of this storm stands your brother."

"He is innocent."-the stranger said, with a clear edge on his voice.

"I never said he wasn't."-Eideard said, setting the heroes at ease, since they thought he'd end up like the Crowfather after he made a jab at the stranger's brother as well-"The Tree holds unimaginable power and if restoring humanity is what you seek rider, than you are headed in the right direction. Be warned though. A dark presence dwells within the Tree, so you and the outworlders best watch yourselves."

The stranger simply grunted and began walking in a chosen direction, but not before Eideard spoke up once more:

"One more thing horseman."-this prompted the stranger to sigh in annoyance and turn to look at the Maker-"Your fate and the fate of the outworlders' are now intertwined. Therefor you mustn't leave the outworlders behind and they must never leave you side either."

"I do not need their help in my journey Old One."-the stranger protested.

"And after the stunt he pulled earlier, we sure as hell don't need _him_ on our team."-Rex added.

"Be that as it may, your goals are the same, your destinations are the same."-Eideard reasoned, first addressing the stranger-"The outworlders, despite their vast abilities, would not survive in this world or any other on their own, especially with this Corruption out and about. They need someone to guide and teach them of what lies beyond the borders of their realm."-then the old Maker turned to address the heroes-"And all of you must stand by the horseman's side as well. For soon he will face a great challenge, which he alone will not be able to surpass. He will need your aid, whether he admits it or not. And now, I must be on my way. Good luck to all of you."

And with that Eideard began walking away, using his scepter as a walking stick.

With that done the stranger simply shook his head in annoyance and kept walking in his intended direction. An act which didn't go unnoticed by the heroes.

"Hey dude! Didn't you hear that Eideard guy?"-Ben spoke up-"We're supposed to stick together and stuff."

"And as I have said shape shifter,"-the stranger shot back-"I do not require your aid in my quest."

"Hey, I have a name y'know, asshole!"-Ben retorted, starting to get fed up with the stranger's attitude.

The stranger stopped walking and slapped his sides with his hands in exasperation, then turned to address the alien hero-"Then praytell, what is your name shape shifter?"

From the tone of voice the stranger used, he was obviously being sarcastic, but Ben looked at Rex, Jenny, the Crystal Gems and some of the other heroes and by simply exchanging looks, they decided to humor the stranger with an answer anyway.

"Well, my name is Ben Tennyson, but you can call me Ben Ten if ya want."

"Name's Rex Salazar, but folks from back home call me Generator Rex."

"My name's XJ9, but I usually go by Jenny Wakeman, hero robot girl from Tremorton."

"I am Dexter, boy genius, and inventor of the device that brought us all here."

"I'm Blossom."

"Name's Buttercup."

"And I am Bubbles. And together we are-"

Together-" **The Powerpuff Girls!** "

"Hey duder, my name's Prohyas Warrior."

"And I am his older sister Vamber Warrior. And together we are the Warriors for Hire."

"I am known as Samurai Jack back home, warrior."

"Hey there, my name is Steven Universe and these are my friends, the Crystal Gems: Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet."

"Uhm, Steven? Thank you for introducing us, but I'm quite sure we could have done it ourselves."-Pearl told the young half gem.

"Yeah Steven."-Amethyst added-"I was gonna do an awesome shape shifting and some tricks with my whips and everything."

"Oh, sorry guys."-Steven said, realizing that he had gotten a little too excited with the introductions.

"It's alright Steven, we know you only meant well."-Garnet said reassuringly.

"Anyway, getting back on track here, my name's Marco Diaz, and I…uh…know…karate…yeah…"

"And I'm Star Butterfly, Marco's best friend ever, and a _maaaagical_ princess from _anooother_ dimension."-as she said this, Star made a mini rainbow behind herself…which then ignited into flames…somehow…I don't know guys, cartoon logic is just weird.

"Hey, my names Juniper Lee and I'm the Te Xuan Ze, meaning I'm the protector of magic back at home."

"Yo, name's Yumi."-the Asian rockstar said, acting cool

"And my name is Ami. The two of us form the Puffy AmiYumi rock band!"-the second Asian rockstar said with a more cheerful tone

"What's up pal? I'm Woody Woodpecker. I like looong naps on the beach, breakfast in bed and-"-Woody was suddenly interrupted by Eddy pushing him away.

"Name's Eddy, and with my two associates here, Ed and Double D we are-"-he did a backflip and landed on his two friends and stood on their heads-"-the Amaaaazing Eds!"

This was followed by an intense silence, to which Eddy asked-"What?"-and the stranger then spoke up again.

"I was speaking sarcastically. Or is your realm devoid of such a thing?"

"Nah, but we figured you oughta know our names, since we'll be stuck together for a while."-Rex answered-"Now it's your turn buddy. Give us your name."

"Ugh!"-the stranger sighed in exasperation and turned around and was about to walk away, but stopped and after a few seconds of silence, he spoke once again-"Death…my name is Death."

Well this definitely threw the heroes for a loop. They expected to hear an unusual name, perhaps a name that would be very difficult to pronounce, but they never expected the stranger to request to being called 'Death'.

"Uh, is that like a nickname, or a Facebook user name or-"-Woody's questioning was interrupted by the stranger.

"No. I go by many names and titles, but I am usually known by my own name. Death."

"Sooo, does that mean you're like the Grim Reaper or something?"-Star wondered

"But Star that can't be right."-Bubbles told her fellow blond-"My friend Mandy from school told me her best friend is the Grim Reaper. I even saw him myself, and he looks nothing like this man."

"Bubbles is right."-Jenny added-"I've seen this 'Grim' guy myself a couple of times when I went to visit Megaville, and he was a literal skeleton wearing a black cloak."

"A servant."-the stranger, Death said, gaining everyone's attention-"While I am responsible for reaping the souls of the living, I cannot be in every place, in all of Creation, at the same time. So I was given permission by the Council to create servants of my own for this task. They are simple, lesser Reapers, and the one you are speaking of must be one of them. There is only one Grim Reaper in all of Creation, and that is me."

Well, this certainly explained a few things; such as the man's negative attitude and tendency to kill. And with the way Grim behaves back on Earth, compared to what they've seen the stranger do, made his word more believable.

However, just because they were stuck with Death itself, didn't make the heroes thrilled in anyway. Death was the one thing they were against, because it went against all of their principles and morals as heroes. They believed that death should only be an absolute last resort to be used against an enemy.

Believing this answer was satisfying enough, Death turned and started walk-

"I KNEW IT!"-okay, so not _everyone_ was uncomfortable with being with Death, as Ed was a living proof of this-"I knew he looked familiar guys! He _is_ the character from my 'Darksiders' comic books."

While everyone was astonished about how excited Ed looked, the big lug simply took out the comic book he had with him earlier plus a pen—a very dirty and crusty pen—and ran up to the pale horseman, to which he presented the two items.

"Can I have your autograph please sir?"-Ed asked innocently

While everyone was expecting the reaper to decapitate the gullible Ed-boy, the horseman instead sighed, shook his head in annoyance and continued walking.

Everyone released a sigh of relief and started following the pale rider, although at a moderate distance. As they did, Eddy slapped Ed upside the head and began scolding the big lump:

"Ed you big idiot. Don't ever do that again."

"Eddy is right Ed."-Double D added-"That man just confessed that he is death itself. He could have ended your life right there if you weren't careful enough."

"But guuuuys, autograph."-Ed whined, which caused both smarter Eds to facepalm.

Ignoring the bickering and whining Eds Death kept going until he happened upon the mouth of a very large, hollow log. Seeing the faint outlines of structures on the other end of the log, Death decided to go through it, the heroes following behind.

Once the horseman and the heroes reached the other side, they were greeted by an interesting site.

They saw a very large stone settlement, comprised mostly of old, or rather ancient, stone buildings. Before them stood a stone path. On one end there was a massive mountain. At the foot of the mountain a large face was carved from stone, the mouth of which was a large wooden door. On both sides of the stone face were two stone structures. Above these two structures, carved into higher sections of the mountain were two symbols; on the left was a glowing orange symbol which might be representing fire, while on the right side there was a dark blue symbol which could be representing water.

On the other side of the stone path—the one where they were at—was a very large stone wall, which had a pair of stairs going down from each of its sides. The stairs led down to what appeared to be an arena with a bunch of thick wooden pillars dotting it. Striking these pillars was another Maker, although this one was remarkably different from Eideard.

For one this one's beard and hair weren't white, but reddish brown, meaning he must be, at least a little bit, younger than Eideard. The maker was covered head to toe in dark grey and black armor, which looked strong and sturdy, and he also had a long red cloth wrapped around his neck, like a scarf. In his right hand he wielded a massive battle axe, which looked like it could even cut a skyscraper in half. In fact Ben was sure that this maker might be capable of cutting Vilgax's own ship in half with that thing without even breaking a sweat.

Realizing that he has guests the maker stopped what he was doing and turned to address the new arrivals. At first he was surprised to see a bunch of humans, a robot and a bird standing before him, but upon laying his eyes on the sole horseman of the group, his surprise faded away and he addressed the rider before him:

"Ah the Reaper. It's about time you came."-he spoke in a deep voice which reminded the heroes of a scottish accent ***that's what I think anyway, please feel free to correct me if you guys think I'm wrong*** -"The Makers are dying, as well as our realm. We few are all that remain."

"A warrior's life is never easy Old One."-Death told the warrior Maker.

"Aye, not easy, yet simple."-the Maker said, as he spat on the blade of his axe and began shinning it-"I always saw my end with blade in hand, with a field of enemies dead before me."

This surprised the heroes, because they have never met anyone who would even _think_ about picturing their own deaths. Well that is, except for a certain samurai, who knew what this Maker was talking about.

"Uhm, excuse me sir?"-Ami spoke up, drawing the giant's attention to her-"But why would you want to die? Wouldn't it be better to live instead?"

"I would not expect ye to understand my words lass."-the Maker said-"Ye look like a barmaid than a warrior."

That comment left Ami with wide eyes and a hanging mouth, while Yumi and Buttercup started laughing like crazy. It was then that Jack decided to intervene.

"As warriors we are always ready to give our lives in battle for either the good of our people or the good of our loved ones. There is no shame in not being aware of such things Ami-san."

This put Ami somewhat at ease, though she is still rather miffed inside about the whole 'barmaid' comment.

"And what glorious end awaits you hiding behind these walls Maker?"-Death asked the giant warrior.

Realizing the horseman's sarcasm, the Maker sighed and began explaining:

"Ye cannot fight Corruption, nor can ye even harm it. You can only kill those it has already taken. So every strike I make against Corruption is a blow against my own people. Muse on that rider before ye mark me as a coward."

Realizing what the Maker was saying, Jack decided to add his own twenty cents-"It takes great strength to take a life. But it takes even more strength to spare one. You may not be able to fight this Corruption, but by fighting and destroying its vessels, you may bless your people with an honorable death. Is that not worth more than the existence they now have warrior?"

Jack's words seemed to have had quite an impact, because the axe wielding Maker was silent for a moment, before he spoke once again-"Aye, ye may be right human. No one deserves to live as a puppet of Corruption. You've got quite the heart for a human, ye know. I like that. Name's Thane by the way."

Knowing that he had gained the Maker's trust—or was in the process of doing so—Jack followed up by giving his own name-"My name is Samurai Jack."

"Huh, I think you and I will get along just fine Samurai Jack."-Thane said, then addressed the horseman-"Ye see Horseman? There is no shame in being polite. Ye could stand to learn a few things from this warrior ***points to Jack with his axe*.** "

Death simply shook his head, then turned and began walking to the other side of the stone walkway. The rest of the heroes followed suit, leaving Thane to his training.

Once they have reached the other side of the walkway, Death turned to address the heroes-"Wait here. I will be back shortly."-the heroes were about to retort, but the executioner would have none of that-"No words, just stay here."

And with that the Horseman began walking towards the stone dome on left, where the sounds of metal being hammered could be heard.

Once he reached the top of the steps leading up to the dome, he was greeted by what could only be described as a forge, manned by two Makers; one was a male, with brown leather pants, a chest-plate armor and helmet, a very large gauntlet on his right hand while his left hand was uncovered, but was covered in black soot. The second Maker was surprisingly a female. She was very tall, like all other Makers, but she wasn't as bulky as the male Makers. She had flowing ginger hair, and was wearing a reddish brown corset-like outfit, with pieces of metal sewn here and there, she also wore a pair of gloves and metal greaves.

Upon realizing they have a guest, the female Maker turned to address Death, while the male Maker continued hammering something on an anvil, using his gauntlet as a hammer.

"Maker's beard, the rumors are true. A Horseman in the Forge Lands. The name's Alia and this is my brother Valus."-the female Maker said, once again in a thick Scottish accent-"We are the keepers of this forge. Though I reckon now it matters less than it did before."

"This is a Maker's Forge?"-Death asked in amusement, and with good reason. He heard stories of Maker's Forges being the places where the Makers would forge objects and weapons of great power, as well as the foundations of worlds. Seeing that a Maker's Forge is nothing more than a common forge, found at any blacksmith's shop, is greatly disappointing for the rider, but Alia was about to prove him wrong.

"Nay, the Maker's Forge is lost to us. Silenced by the hands of Corruption. But in its depths we crafted the Dark Towers of Hell and the Crystal Cities of Heaven."

"And now you make, what, trinkets?"-Death continued asking

"Hah, and you—one of the Four—now seeks the aid of the Makers?"-Alia countered, not appreciating the rider's mocking-"I guess we have all fallen from high places."

Realizing that mocking the Makers is getting him nowhere fast, Death decided to just get to the point-"I came here seeking the Tree and your elder speaks of some fire. What is it?"

"Ah yes, the Fire of the Mountain, the Stone Father's blood."-Alia answered, pride and vigor in her voice as she spoke-"It once flowed into our forge, as did the Tears. Both once imbued our crafts with incredible powers, the Heart and Soul of Stone. But Corruption has taken them both, and now our forge lies silent."

"And why should this concern me?"-Death asked, not understanding why forge resources would be any of his concern.

"The path to the Tree of Life is barred by Corruption."-Alia once again answered-"You can no more leave this place that we can Horseman. But if you restore our forge, then the Tree may yet be reached."

"I don't follow your reasoning Maker."-Death said, now understanding less than he did a second ago.

"We are makers, not warriors."-Alia said, deciding to elaborate a bit more-"But we are not without our weapons. Before Corruption took the Forge from us, we crafted a mighty creature of soul and stone. A colossus to fight Corruption. But to awaken it would require a Maker's Key, and without our Forge we cannot craft one. So will you help us rider?"

Now Death understood the situation. The Makers have a way to get to the Tree of Life, but it requires a special key, one which can only be made in the Maker's Forge. And since the Forge requires fire and now there isn't any, the key cannot be made.

"So if I were to bring this Fire of yours into the Forge, will you be able to make this key?"-Death asked, summarizing the whole situation.

"Yes we would Horseman, but only if you are willing to help us."-Alia answered.

Keeping silent for a moment, Death spoke once again-"Very well then. I will help you. Now tell me where can I find this fire?"

Death's answer caught Alia by surprise, as she did not expect one of the Four to help her and her people, but she wasn't going to squander this chance of salvation-"Really? You will help us? Oh thank the Stone Father. And to answer your question rider, you must go to the Cauldron to awaken the fire."

"And what is this…Cauldron?"-Death asked

"A temple, built in the shadow of Stone Father's Peek."-Alia answered-"From there the Fire of the Mountain was harnessed and passed into our forge. Ride east of town through the Charred Pass and towards the cindery peak of the Stone Father. There you will find the Cauldron."

Nodding in understanding, Death turned to leave, but Alia had one more question to ask.

"Wait a moment Horseman."-at this Death stopped but didn't turn to face the Maker-"The rumors in town say that you are being accompanied by a group of outworlders. A group of humans with incredible powers. So where are _they_ rider?"

Death sighed in frustration, not wanting to start talking about his 'companions' and waste more time.

"That is none of your concern Maker."-and with that the Horseman left, leaving a confused and slightly miffed Alia behind, while Valus kept hammering away.

 **XXX**

 _While Death was conversing with Alia…_

The heroes stood at the foot of the steps, not quite appreciating Death's arrogant attitude towards them.

"Urgh, this sucks!"-Eddy yelled, kicking a pebble in frustration-"Why the hell does that bonehead get to order us around like he's the boss or something?"

"Uh perhaps 'cause he knows his way around and is the expert here? Don't tell me you're that stupid that you didn't figure that part out by now."-Yumi retorted, and when Eddy was about to counter Pearl spoke up.

"Even so, that still doesn't give him the right to be so…so…"

"Arrogant, high-and-mighty, hotheaded, all of the above?"-Ben added

"Yes. Thank you Ben."-Pearl said.

"Be that as it may, we are stranded in a world we know nothing about."-Jack said, trying to ease everyone's worry-"Right now our best chance of survival is to be by his side."

"And perhaps I should remind everyone of the fact that Mr. Eideard told us that this 'Tree of Life' thing is where we should be going too."-Dexter added.

"Y'know, you're handling this whole 'trapped in a world full of magical giants and monsters' thing pretty well Dexter."-Juniper remarked, to which the boy genius calmly responded.

"I still do not believe in 'magic' as you call it Juniper. I am a man of science and I know for certain there is a logical explanation for everything we have seen so far."

"Pfft, yeah, sure."-Buttercup said under her breath.

While everyone was talking about the situation they're in, Steven was a busy with his own worries.

The fact that the stranger had killed the Crowfather right before his eyes was worrying enough, but now that he and his friends knew he was the Grim Reaper itself was even more worrying. Out of all the heroes present, Steven was perhaps the one who resented killing most of all, mostly because he's a kid, but also because his mother believed that death is a fate undeserving to every creature, gem and organic alike.

His musings were cut short however, when he noticed a butterfly with glowing blue wings fly right up to his face. He thought it looked pretty, but he could hear a bizarre hum emanating from the butterfly and when it flew off, the young half gem couldn't stop himself from following it.

This action did not go unnoticed by a certain blue powerpuff.

"Hey Steven? Where are you going?"-Bubbles asked out loud, but seeing as Steven didn't respond, she decided to follow him.

Her question did garner the attention of Pearl however, and when she noticed Steven walking away, she immediately acted.

"Steven? Where are you going? Stop!"-the white gem quickly followed, and with that the rest of the heroes decided to follow them as well, to make sure they didn't run into any of those Corruption monsters again.

Steven wordlessly followed the glowing insect up a flight of stairs, which were sitting opposite of where Death went to and when he reached the top of the stairs he stopped. This gave the others plenty of time to catch up to the little half-gem.

"Hey Steven, why did you run off like that? And why did you even come up…here…?"-Ben's line of questioning stopped as he and everyone else saw what Steven was looking at.

Before them stood yet another Maker, but this one was a female. Her clothing consisted of dark or pale blue robes, along with some pieces of metal sewn in a few places, such as her shoulders and parts of her pants. She had a belt around her waist, which was filled with various pouches and a vile containing a glowing liquid. Her hair was silver-white and was braided—no surprise there. But what caught the heroes' attention the most was the blue cloth tied around her eyes, like a blindfold. She also had a very large and twisted piece of wood in her left hand, acting as both a staff of some sort and as a nest for some colorful little birds. Oh and the blue butterfly which Steven chased, was now resting on the right side of her head, looking like a hairclip.

As the heroes continued starring at this new Maker, they noticed—or more accurately speaking they began feeling a kind of calming aura coming from this one Maker alone. As if she was Mother Nature made flesh and simply being in her presence calmed them all down. This affected the gems as well, as they forgot themselves for a second and thought they saw their beloved leader standing before them, rather than the Maker. Even Dexter, the Eds and Woody were feeling a sense of peace, like they were newborns standing close their mothers.

"Greetings outworlders, and welcome to the Forge Lands."-the Maker spoke first, her voice as calming and as soothing as fresh morning dew and soft silk.

This off course snapped the heroes out of their stupor as they began collecting themselves.

"Oh uh…s-sorry ma'am…uh"-Ben started

"Yes, we're so sorry-"Blossom started, but was cut off by Double D.

"We didn't mean to barge into your-"

"It was my fault!"-Steven yelled, silencing everyone-"I was chasing after a butterfly and accidentally came here without knowing. I am so sorry Mrs. Maker, I didn't mean to disturb you. Hones-"

Steven abruptly stopped when the she-Maker simply raised her right hand in the universal sign of 'stop'. Then she spoke once again.

"You have done nothing wrong, young Halfling. For we have been expecting your arrival into our world for many moons."

Hearing this calmed Steven and the others down, but something that she said surprised both Steven and the gems, but Star spoke up before any of them could utter a word:

"Sooo, what's up with the blindfold old lady?"-this question earned her a glare and an elbow to the stomach by Marco, who said:

"Star don't call her that. And don't talk about her eyes either. She's obviously blind and it's not nice to-"

"Though my sight of what is physically standing before me is gone, I am able to see beyond what is material and physical."-knowing full well that the silence from the heroes meant they didn't understand shit, she decided to simplify her explanation-"Think of my sight as being able to see with a third eye from within my mind."

A collective 'ooohhh' soon followed…as well as Star saying-"Well why didn't ya just say so?"-which earned her another elbow to the stomach by Marco.

Deciding to move things along, Jack stepped forward and spoke-"We still wish to apologies for intruding into your sanctum Maker."

"I understand samurai."-the Maker gently said-"But instead of offering pointless accusations upon all of you, I can instead grant you answers to a question you are all wondering about."

The heroes all looked at each other, wondering what was the one thing they were collectively thinking about. Until Star's hand shot up and asked out loud-"Like what is your name?"-at this everyone turned to look at her with raised eyebrows and Star said-"What? Like you guys weren't thinking about that too."

At this the Maker simply said-"Well…I suppose that would be _two_ questions."-at this everyone turned to look at her as she continued-"My own name is of no importance to any of you. I am but a shaman who's task is to provide comfort and wisdom to both Maker…and outworlder alike. But this is not what all of you are wondering."

Everyone went silent again, going deep into thought. Honestly the only question that all of them have rattling inside their brains is how to get back to Earth. But they had a feeling this might not be the question the Shaman was talking about either.

"It is the question of what this Corruption is."-everyone turned to see none other than Death himself standing behind them, having solved their little 'riddle'.

"Ah, greetings to you as well Horseman."-the Shaman said calmly, not at all deterred by Death's appearance.

"Hey."-Rex greeted the Horseman too before saying-"Look I know what you're gonna say and-"

"She was speaking about the Corruption."-Death said, interrupting the young evo-"She can tell that you are all wondering what it is. And so do I."

The Shaman took this as her que to speak and so she did-"I only know what I fear it to be. That Corruption is hatred given life and form. And this hatred does not come from tree or stone…but from ourselves. This Corruption dug deep into our world, and destroyed in mere days what took us centuries to create. Though Eideard and myself do our best to calm our surviving brethren, we all yearn for only one comfort…the embrace of Death."

This really got to the heroes. They figured the situation for this world would be bad, after hearing what Eideard and Thane said, but to hear from a shaman that everything has gotten so f*** up that they are now waiting for death to take them. This piece of information was truly a disheartening thing to hear, especially when you're a superhero.

And while most of the heroes didn't quite understand the whole Corruption-being-hatred-given-form thing, those that were well versed in magic—or at least had a basic grasp of it—could only imagine what this could mean. It would take some reeeeeally powerful and nasty magic to pull off something like this, as well as someone with unimaginable amounts of hatred. It would be at this point that Dexter would step in and say that there is a scientific explanation for this, but he decided to keep his mouth shut for once, as he and the heroes could practically sense the despair coming from the Shaman.

"You despair Old One…and yet you raise life from the earth still."-Death remarked, with the Shaman replying

"As I have said Horseman, I am a shaman, and I am still bound to this task even as our days grow darker. We are as the trees; root into the ground then grow and eventually decay, dropping seeds to begin anew. It is an endless cycle, one which I cannot stop…or you."

"It is a noble task Ms. Shaman."-Garnet remarked this time-"Keeping to your duty of helping your kind even on the brink of extinction."

"Yes."-the Shaman spoke, knowing full well where Garnet was heading with this-"A sentiment which I am sure your former leader shared as well."

Her words made Steven unconsciously lift his shirt up a bit, revealing his mother's pink gemstone lodged into his bellybutton. He looked at it sadly, knowing the Maker was right, and Pearl noticed this as well and smiled sadly:

"Yes…indeed she did…"

Realizing that they should probably get back on track, Marco was the one who took over the conversation:

"Ahem, uh…speaking of trees. Can you tell us a little bit more about the 'Tree of Life' please ma'am?"

Hearing the young hispanic's words the Shaman spoke once again:

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you much…only that the forest around the Tree has been corrupted. It hungers for more life to enter its domain…only to snuff it out. None of you can reach the Tree through all of that Corruption…at least not with breath still in you."

"Yeah speaking of which…"-Ben said, as he turned to address the Horseman-"Did ya talk to this 'Forge Sister' and did she give ya some pointers to get us to the Tree?"

Not entirely sure what the word 'pointers' might mean in this case, Death simply decided to tell them what he knew-"I spoke with the Maker known as Alia and she spoke of a fire that is to be reignited at a place called the Cauldron."

This caused most of the heroes to go wide eyed as they now had a solid starting point.

"Well, did she tell you where to find this Cauldron place?"-Jenny asked, hoping the rider would say 'yes'.

"Yes."-ooohhh called it guys!-"She gave me the directions to follow and we are to make haste for the Cauldron at once."-having said his peace Death turned to walk away.

"I would advise against that Horseman."-the Shaman said, causing Death to stop in his tracks and look back at her-"The sun is about to set soon, and Corruption becomes more violent when it is dark. So I advise you and your companions to stay for the night Horseman."

That's when the heroes noticed that the sky was indeed turning orange, indicating that night will soon be upon them. And not just that, they also noticed that they are now very tired. I mean, you would be too if you were vomited out of a transdimensional wormhole, forced to fight an army of skeletons, walk and climb in a frozen fortress, vomited out of another wormhole and forced into another world.

"She's right."-Rex said as he stretched his arms above his head-"After all the shit that's happened to us, I for one am pretty pooped out."

"Yeah same here * **yawn*** "-Star added-"Being in an adventure is fun and all, but taking a break is also not a bad idea."

"I believe we could all do for some rest for tonight."-Jack said, turning to then address the Reaper-"It would be unwise to march into battle tired and giving the enemy an edge against us."

Though everyone took what the samurai said as reason enough to rest, Death on the other hand didn't as he turned to walk away.

"Stay and rest if you so wish, but I will keep going until my goal is complete."

This definitely threw the heroes off, and some of them were beginning to lose their patience with this man's attitude.

"Hey! Dude c'mon! Eideard said we're supposed to stick together and-"

"And I do not care!"-Death said, interrupting Juniper's reasoning-"I do not need your aid and I will complete this task by myself."

Hearing this Jack was about to add his own argument, only to look to his left and see Rex clenching his hands into fists and shaking a bit.

Death kept going down the stairs believing that he made his point very clear. He was on a journey to free his brother from the Council's judgment, not sit around and wait for a bunch of mortals to get some rest. Time is of the essence.

However he was freed from his musings when a black metallic tentacle wrapped around his torso. The metallic appendage then pulled the rider back and he was slammed into the far wall of the stone dome. After he shook the shock away he looked to see Rex turning his right arm back to normal and glaring at him.

"Uh maybe you didn't get the memo old man, but we _have to_ stay together. It's not optional."-Rex told the horseman, but his look and tone indicated that he was reaching the end of his patience.

This shocked the heroes since they rarely saw the evo hero loose his cool like this. Although some like Ben and Jenny understood why Rex was being like this.

After shaking some debree off of himself Death got back up to his feet and directed a glare of his own to the teen hero:

"I think not boy. I am here to free my brother from Oblivion, not to watch over you as you walk the fields."

"Yeah? Well you're gonna have to 'watch over us' whether you like it or not old man."-Rex countered.

Starting to get tired of this pointless argument, Death took a few steps forward until he was at arm's length with Rex.

"I am warning you for the last time boy: step aside right now, or I will-"

"Or you will what?"-Jenny suddenly asked as she placed an electric laser chainsaw to the horseman's throat, and looking at her the rider saw a fire of determination in the robot girl's eye screens-"Go on, do something stupid. I dare ya."

Death narrowed his eyes at the challenge before striking Jenny's abdomen then grabbing her chainsaw arm and flinging her at Rex, causing them both to slide on the ground.

"You okay?"-Rex asked as they both got up

"Yeah I'm good."-Jenny replied.

"Alright buddy, you asked for it!"-Ben suddenly said as he slammed down the Omnitrix.

Death shielded his eyes from the blinding green light and after it dissipated, the rider saw a humanoid plant creature standing in Ben's place. But this one wasn't the same as the one he saw before. For one this one has actual human legs and its entire body coloration was of a darker shade of green. Its head was also made up of black, red and yellow leaves that form a sort of firey pattern.

" **Swampfire!** "-the creature shouted in a deep, nasally voice-"Mess with my friends you mess with me ya bastard."

Swampfire then created two fireballs, one in each hand, and flung them at the horseman.

However the executioner simply tilted his body left and right and avoided the fire balls easily. Seeing this Swampfire shot a large wave of fire at him and at this the horseman pulled out his twin scythes, connected them and started spinning the singular weapon in front of himself like a propeller. When the wave of fire struck the rotating weapon it dispersed rapidly and…steam began coming out of the point of impact?

Seeing that this has no effect at all Swampfire stopped his attack, and Death stopped spinning his scythe. That was when Swampfire noticed that the blades of the scythe where coated in ice and that the runes on both blades where shining light blue.

' _Must be some kind of magic mambo-jumbo. Urgh, if Gwen were here she'd probably get it better than I could.'_ -Ben thought as the runes changed back to their regular orange color and the ice melted away.

Seeing that long range wasn't gonna cut it, Swampfire ignited his fists and ran towards Death to try close quarters. The plant alien began sending punch after punch at the pale rider, but none of them even connected with the Horseman himself, and those that did were simply blocked. After knocking away another punch, Death shot his left hand forward and grabbed Swampfire by the throat and lifted him until his feet were dangling off the ground.

"I would prefer not to kill you boy, but I will if you don't step aside."-Death warned, to which Swampfire simply replied:

"Yeah sure, good luck with that pal."-and with that the plant alien swung his left leg up, striking the rider's chin and freeing himself from the Horseman's grasp.

Once he landed Swampfire ignited his hands once again and said-"Alright now let's see wha-"

But suddenly Ben went silent as Death moved so quickly no one would've seen him if they blinked, and the rider plunged his right scythe into Swampfire's abdomen, spilling green slime all over the ground.

"I am sorry,"-Death said as Swampfire leaned his upper body forward-"I have given you a chance to live and you squandered it."

Death then proceeded to pull his scythe out of the 'dead' alien but found the he couldn't move his arm for some reason. Looking down he saw Swampfire holding his right arm with both of his arms in a vice grip. Before the rider could wonder why this was happening, he suddenly felt metal hitting his masked face hard. That was because Rex had transformed his hands into his robot gauntlets and jumped forward to get the Horseman away from his friend.

And it showed, because Rex's punch sent Death skidding back a few feet, and when the rider looked up he saw that Swampfire was surprisingly still standing, but with his scythe still lodged in his body.

"You okay Ben?"-Rex asked, not taking his eyes off Death, while Swampfire simply stood up straight and pulled the weapon out.

"Yep, just peachy."-Swampfire responded, while the hole in his abdomen sealed itself up, surprising the rider greatly.

' _An impressive healing ability.'_ -Death thought- _'But is it his own, or does it belong to this form?'_

The Horseman then directed his gaze towards to the one who managed to punch him as Rex spoke up:

"So now you're gonna start killing us, is that it?"

"I have given you a chance to stand aside boy, but instead you foolishly chose to stand in my way."-Death clarified calmly, but never letting his guard drop-"I will not allow anyone to prevent me from reaching my goal."

At this Rex began to laugh, as if Death had just told a joke, which surprised both Ben and everyone else. Then the evo teen spoke again:

"Oh yeah, you wanna go and 'save your brother'."-Rex said in an almost mocking tone, using his robot fingers to make air quots-"Yeah right. You know what I think? I think you're actually just using this whole 'save my brother' thing as an excuse to kill everyone around you."

At this everyone who wasn't fighting gasped at the blatant accusation Rex just made. Even Ben was starting to get worried as he saw the rider just standing there with a shadow cast over his eyes.

"Uh, Rex?"-the alien said-"I know we're not exactly on good terms with this guy, but do ya really think it's good idea to piss him off like this?"

"Look, I don't care if his feelings get hurt or something Ben!"-Rex suddenly said-"This guy is the Grim fucking Reaper! It's his JOB to kill people! And it's because of HIM that we are now-!"

Rex suddenly stopped as he felt the temperature suddenly drop to almost freezing levels. And it wasn't just him, everyone felt like they just stepped into a refrigerator. That was when Rex and Ben looked towards the Horseman and boy did they not like what they were seeing.

Death's gaze was fixated solely on Rex with so much fury in his eyes that Wrath the Furious himself would be shitting bricks. The rider then thrust his open hand forward and the scythe in Ben's hands flew right back to its rightful master. Once that was done Death wordlessly lunged towards the evo hero, completely ignoring both Jenny, who had been trying to sneak attack him this entire time, and Ben.

Seeing this Rex quickly put his gauntlets up to defend himself, but it was of no use, because Death's scythes cut right through the large metal hands, but fortunately their tips stopped just a few inches away from Rex's face. However the very force behind the attack made Rex drop to one knee and he was also struggling to keep the enraged Horseman at bay.

A green flash to the side later and Death was suddenly pulled back by Fourarms, giving Rex some breathing room.

"Rex! Are you okay?"-Jenny asked with concern as she helped Rex back up to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm good."-Rex replied as he looked through the whole on one of his hands and saw Ben still holding Death back, but just barely.

"Uhm, okay guys…"-Fourarms said as he struggled to maintain his hold on the executioner-"I think maybe we should stop now and-"

Ben stopped as Death thrust his head back, headbutting the alien in the nose, and forcing him to let go. Death then hooked his right scythe with Fourarms' ankle and pulled from right under him, making him fall. This was followed by a strong kick to the abdomen, which made the very _strong_ and very _sturdy_ alien hero fly into the stone wall, causing cracks to form and pieces to fall off.

Death the spun around and using his left scythe he sliced in half the electric laser chainsaw Jenny made on her left hand. The robot girl flinched as if she felt a slight bit of pain and looked at the damage done to her weapon.

"Oh man."-Jenny groaned-"My mom's gonna kill me if I ever get back home."

"Then you should have considered this before opposing me, construct."-Death harshly addressed Jenny.

Before Jenny could voice a rebuttal Death was on her once again, swinging his scythes at her, and Jenny only had enough time to bring up a holo-shield for protection, but even that was proving to be useless. After a few more swings Death kicked up the bottom part of Jenny's shield, forcing the robot girl to flail her arms and stumble back a few steps. That was when she saw Death swing his scythes down at her, ready to end her existence.

Jenny was ready to take the pain of death, but before she could a large robotic leg slammed into the rider's torso and masked face pushing him away from her.

Like before in the ice fortress, Death stuck his scythes into the ground to stop himself and once he did he looked up and glared at Generator Rex, whom the leg was attached to.

Shrinking down his mechanical legs Rex sent the rider his own glare:

"Y'know, I'm beginning to get really tired of your high-and-mighty attitude old man."

"And does it seem like I care about what you do or do not like boy?"-Death inquired as he straightened his posture-"My only concern is the salvation of my brother. Something I don't expect you or your companions to understand."

Having said his peace Death lunged forward and Rex brought up his sword to counter the Horseman.

Meanwhile, while the teen evo and Grim Reaper duked it out, Jenny was getting back to her feet and was about to get back into the fight, until she felt a hand grab her left arm. Looking back she saw that it was Jack who stopped her.

"Mr. Jack, what are you doing? I have to go and help Rex!"

"Jennifer if you get back in there you will only prolong this senseless conflict!"-said the samurai.

"But she and Rex have a good reason to fight sensei."-Buttercup interjected-"I mean that guy, Grim Reaper or not, is the reason we're in this mess. He killed that old guy, and he was supposed to send us back home. So don't you think it would be better to teach him a lesson?"

Before Jack could voice his opinion on this, Vambre addressed the green powerpuff-"Buttercup darling, listen. While I do enjoy a good tussle every now and again, this fight is pointless. We should be trying to get along with one another so that we could get back to our world more efficiently."

"I agree with Ms. Vambre on this one."-Blossom added

"Pfft, off course you would."-Buttercup said under her breath, although her pink sister did hear her.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean Buttercup?"-see?

"Uh shouldn't we be fighting that Death guy instead of each other?"-Amethyst added her own two cents.

"Ugh, is violence the only solution you can ever think of?"-Dexter inquired

"So what, you've got a better idea shrimp?"-Eddy asked with a wicked grin on his face.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"-Dexter exploded in the short Ed boy's face.

And this is how some members of the group began arguing amongst themselves while the other half tried to quell the inner conflict and while Rex and Death continued their fight. While the shaman Maker stood silent and stoic on the sidelines, as if she was waiting for something, Steven looked nervously between the arguing group and the two fighters. The little half-gem was torn between trying to stop everybody from arguing amongst themselves and stopping the fight between the teen hero and the Horseman.

While it is true he didn't like how Death handled the situation with the Crowfather, that doesn't mean he wants to see his friends fight him. For one he could kill them – I mean he is the Grim Reaper – and the other reason is that Eideard told them that this Tree of Life thing could help them all. So really, there is no reason to fight.

With that in mind and a look of determination on his face, Steven made his move.

Meanwhile Death and Rex jumped back, putting some distance between themselves. Rex's clothes were a bit ruffed up and covered in some scratches but for the most part he was okay. Death was in a similar state, although he did have a few extra bruises on his body, but otherwise he still in good condition. Seeing the reaper still not backing down the teen evo pointed his sword at the second born Nephilim and said:

"Are you ready to throw in the towel yet?!"

Tightening the grip on his scythes Death directed a furious glare at Rex before standing up-"If you're asking whether or not I am giving up, than you should know the answer by now. I refuse to yield to anyone who stands in my way…especially to some filthy human!"

And with that Death lunged forward ready to end this fight, and Rex did the same, after turning the tip of his sword into a buzzsaw. Just as the two warriors were about to cut into each other a large pink dome appeared between them and stopped their respective weapons mid swing. After recovering from their initial shock, the two males – as well as everybody else – looked in surprise at seeing Steven standing inside the dome, which turned out to be his shield.

"Stop!"-Steven shouted to Rex and Death as he dissipated his shield-"Both of you just stop fighting!"

"Steven, what-"

"Stand aside if you wish to live boy!"-Death ordered the little half-gem, while also interrupting whatever Rex wanted to say.

"No! I won't!"-Steven declared, making his shield disappear and facing Death with a determined look-"I won't step aside because you're both acting like…like…like a pair of jerks!"

That statement caused most of the group to gasp in shock, especially the Crystal Gems, since they never heard Steven use the word 'jerk' before. Death looked only mildly shocked since he'd been called far worst in the past, but it was Rex who broke the silence:

"Hey Steven what the heck are you talking about?! And what are you calling me a jerk for? I was just-"

"You were just picking a fight with Mr. Death and that's not good Rex!"-Steven shouted back, than began addressing both of them-"This pointless fight has to stop! We shouldn't be fighting each other, we should be helping each other, like Mr. Eideard said. So why are you two fighting each other?!"

Shrinking his sword back to his hand Rex answered-"Because I'm sick and tired of this guy's attitude towards us!"-he pointed to the Horseman-"It's all his fault that we're in this mess, but he doesn't even want to admit it! He just keeps acting like he's better than the rest of us!"

"In case you weren't paying attention human,"-Death said in a calm, yet threatening tone-"I am the Grim Reaper, the one who reaps every soul in Creation, so that means I AM better than the rest of you. And I am simply trying to find a way to save my brother. I cannot afford to waste any time on all of you."

"Oh, is that so?!"-Rex countered-"Well you keep saying the whole 'save my brother' thing over and over again and I don't think you really mean that!"

"You will halt you tongue if you wish to still keep it human."-Death growled, starting to advance towards the teen hero, but Steven stopped him.

"No! Stop!"-Death stopped and then looked at Steven in the eye-"This is exactly what I'm talking about! You say you're the Grim Reaper and that you are better than the rest of us, but you're not acting like it! You're just so quick to start fighting, that you're not even trying to stop a fight from starting!"

"I have given him ***points at Rex*** a chance to step aside, yet he forced my hand still."

"Then you should try harder!"-Steven countered-"Fighting doesn't ever solve anything, it just makes things worse than they already are. And just because you're Death it doesn't mean you have to be violent with everyone around you."

"And what is the point you are trying to make boy?"-Death inquired, feeling his patience running out again.

With that Steven just said the one thing nearly everyone wanted to say-"THE POINT IS YOU SHOULDN'T KILL PEOPLE!"

Steven's voice echoed through the entire structure, and while the rider didn't even flinch at the volume the boy spoke in, the half gem continued speaking after taking a moment to compose himself:

"I know that being death it's your job to kill people…but my mom always believed that no one deserves to die. And that's something I believe in too. So you can't just go around killing people without a good reason."

After a moment of silence Death spoke once more, realizing what this whole thing was really about-"This is about the Crowfather, isn't it?"

Rex didn't say anything yet, but Steven did-"Well…yes. I know that he was an old man and everything, but everyone deserves a chance to live as long as they can. And if we start killing people without a good reason…than we're no better than the bad guys we fight every day."

"It's not just that Steven."-Rex spoke up once again-"That Crowfather guy was our only hope of getting back to our world, and now we're stranded in some other world that's probably even further away from Earth."-he then directed his heated gaze towards the pale rider and said-"And it's all _his_ fault. So how 'bout you tell us old man, why? Why didn't you let him live?"

"He spoke clearly that I would not be going further so long as he still stood."-Death answered calmly.

"That's not a good enough reason, damn it!"-Rex shouted back, his frustration reaching a boiling point-"If that were the case you would've just defeated him and called it a day, but you didn't stop after he was done. Oh no, you just went and killed him without a second thought. So how about you try explaining yourself again."

"I will not."-Death replied-"And besides you wouldn't understand."

"Oh give me a break!"-Rex shot back-"You really think I'll just take what you just said and leave it alone?! Well than think again, you bastard! Because if I have to keep fighting you to get you to spill the truth than I will! So tell me ***changes his arm back to sword form*** WHY DID YOU KILL HIM!"

"BECAUSE HE ASKED ME TOO!"-Death replied, having grown tired of Rex's endless tirade, and before the evo teen could speak up again, the reaper continued-"He asked me, not just now but many times in the past to end his life and I refused every time. And the only reason I changed my mind now, was because I had to choose between him or my brother, and I chose my brother."

This statement made everyone pause for a moment, because if the Horseman was telling the truth and if he really did mean to save his brother, than he was truly forced to make a decision of choosing one life over another. Those of the group who are heroes know that such a thing is a tactic only the most heinous of villains would do. But they never even once suspected the Crowfather to be a villain, and therefor never even thought that he would resort to such a tactic. But if the Crowfather really did want to die, than the question was: why?

"Hold on a second!"-Ben spoke up, having reverted back to himself after getting out of the rubble and hearing everything that's been said-"Let's say for a second that what you're saying is true. If that's the case than, here's something I don't understand: why would the Crowfather want you to kill him in the first place?"

Death didn't answer right away, but when he did, he spoke calmly once again-"You humans always insist that immortality is a blessing. That all of you would wish to live forever. But it is a lie. Immortality is a curse. One that forces you to live forever in solitude as those whom you care about perish and wither all around you."-Death than looked Rex dead in the eye before continuing-"So with that in mind, and having seen the realm the Keeper of Secrets resided in, tell me; would you really hold it against him for wishing to end his prolonged suffering?"

This new piece of information stunned the group of heroes, because they never knew that immortality would force someone to ask for the Grim Reaper himself to end their lives. Although, they haven't even seen another lifeform on that ice world – undead company not included – aside from the Crowfather, so maybe living forever really doesn't sound all that good if you're living alone.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the air now, as everyone – minus the shaman – was processing what Death just said, but after a moment Samurai Jack stepped forward and began approaching the pale rider and once he was close enough he spoke:

"While your intentions may have been noble in their own way, your actions have still left us stranded in a world that is not our own."-Death narrowed his eyes at the accusatory tone the samurai was using, but before he could speak Jack continued-"And as Eideard told you, your goal as well as our own lie on the same path. I know that us being here comes as an inconvenience to you, but if you could give us a chance, than we could and will prove to you that we can be helpful on your journey."

Jack then turned to address Rex-"And Rex, I know you are frustrated and angry at the situation we are currently in, as am I and everyone else. But what Steven said is true. You cannot start a fight with someone simply to vent out your frustration. Fighting between ourselves will not solve anything. And such behavior is unbecoming of a hero."

That last part got a shocked look out of the teen evo, as he realized that he wasn't acting like a hero should. While he still doesn't appreciate Death's attitude towards them, the Horseman never really gave the teen a reason to fight him. He did kill the Crowfather, but still…

Having said his peace, Jack turned to address the executioner one more time-"So please, Death-sama, allow us to travel with you, and prove to you our skills."

The Reaper didn't say a word at first and simply looked to the ground in thought. He was beginning to suspect that these humans were not gonna leave him alone, no matter what he would do to shake them off. And while killing them was a favorable option – for a more personal reason – he didn't want to risk alerting the Charred Council. If they sensed the extinction of the humans from the Third Kingdom, than who's to say they couldn't sense the deaths of these outworlder humans caused by a certain Horseman. Also, he noted, if the rest of these humans can fight the same way as this Rex and the ones he fought earlier, than even if he wanted to kill them, that would become more challenging.

So in the end, while he would much prefer for them to find their own way home, for now he would have to comply and let them tag along. So with this reluctant thought in mind, Death raised his head once more and looked at the samurai dead in the eye and said:

"Alright, _if_ I were to allow you to follow me humans, than tell me this: would you be willing to set aside your notion of mercy, and take the lives of those who would wish you harm?"

While Jack seemed mildly shocked by this question, the others were shocked beyond belief that this man would even think of asking them to kill. While many of them had their own thoughts to say, Ben was the one who spoke up first:

"Are you out of your mind?! What kind of question is that?! There's no way, not even in a million years that we would stoop to-"

"Before you finish shape shifter,"-Death interrupted-"Allow me to remind you that you are no longer in your own little world, where you think showing mercy will make things better. You, all of you ***he addresses everyone from the group*** may be seen as heroes in your realm because you show mercy towards your enemies. But beyond your realm it matters not if you are heroes or not. What you wish to be viewed as is meaningless when it comes to surviving. You say you wish to return to your realm, but for that to happen you will have to dispatch those that would stand in your way. And believe me, there will be many who will stand in your way and will want to kill you. ***he sheathes his scythes*** So until you work up the resolve to set aside your mercy for the time in which you will be here, do not even bother answering me, because I will not allow you to come with me otherwise."

And with that having said his peace, Death began walking away, towards the stone steps and to God-knows where. Seeing this Rex made to stop him, but was instead stopped by the Shaman's staff.

"Leave him be for now."-she said, in her usual soft voice, which caused Rex to look at her in surprise.

"But he-"

"Will not leave."-the Shaman interrupted the teen evo-"He simply needs time to put his thoughts in order."-she then turned to address the rest of the group-"In the meantime you may all rest here and use the forest around us to suit whatever needs you may have."

And with that the Shaman left the group of outworlders, as she probably left to find the Horseman. The stranded residents of Megaville were now left alone, and after a moment of awkward silence Eddy broke the ice:

"Well…that was intense if you ask me."

"Well calling it 'intense' is just being friendly."-Woody added-"I honestly thought it would be much worse."

"Yeah, me too."-Buttercup added as well, but with a bit of a sour look-"Shoulda just knocked his lights out."

"Well…at least we're cool for now, right?"-Marco said, before another fight would start escalating-"So, how 'bout we all just sit down, relax and we'll see what happens in the morning."

"Marco Diaz is right."-Garnet spoke up, addressing everyone-"For now all we can do is settle down and wait to see what happens."

Everyone thought about what the Crystal Gem leader said, and they all had to agree. Now that the tension between them the Horseman has somewhat settled, they can now go back to what they were originally intending to do: sit down and rest. However there was one thought that still lingered.

"And what about what that Death guy said? About, ya know…killing?"-Juniper asked with some concern in her voice, which garnered the attention of the rest of the heroes as well.

This time it was Jack who spoke-"We will just have to come to a decision that would be good for both us, and Death-sama."

Everyone fell silent when those words were spoken, since they had a sneaking suspicion that the rider would only accept one decision. The one which the heroes didn't like.

"Yeah, well hate to tell ya this Jack."-Rex said with a somber look on his face-"But I don't think that guy will take our answer."

And with that the heroes began to disperse, some going off to gather wood for a fire they were putting together, some – save the Warrior siblings – went to gather food however they can, and some stayed to heal the injuries of Rex, Ben and Jenny.

All in all, they could now afford themselves a little rest, before the inevitable return of the Horseman.

 **XXX**

Nighttime has now overtaken the land. Where the sounds of hammers ringing on anvils and axes smashing practice dummies were heard by daylight, now they are replaced by the sounds of crickets and howls of beasts further down the valley.

On the edge of the stone bridge sat Death, gazing out into the wilderness, occasionally looking up into the moon as well, but always with a distant and faraway look in his eyes. He still felt apprehensive about allowing a bunch of humans to travel with him. He is on a very serious mission to free his brother and he doesn't want anything to hinder him in his journey. The fact that he is stuck in the world of the Makers was already a big enough setback, not to mention this Corruption.

Death let out a sigh of frustration as there just seems to be one complication after another just piling up.

"So here's where you've been hiding."-a familiar female monotone voice alerted him, causing him to sigh again and look behind him to see Garnet standing with a smirk on her face-"Well, at least you're quite easy to find."

Death merely grunted in annoyance and turned away from the gem, but spoke up nonetheless-"What do you want fusion?"

At this Garnet raised a not-so-visible eyebrow, but not at the question itself.

"You even know that I'm a fusion now?"-the gem inquired curiously, to which the Grim Reaper replied.

"Your kind's gems are souls given physical form. And as far as I know everything in all of Creation has only one soul. Even the Creator himself. So it was not difficult to deduce what you are."

Garnet was silent for a moment before speaking up again-"Wow that's pretty impressive. I never would've thought that our gems were souls as well. I just thought those were concepts only organic lifeforms had."

"Then _how_ do you and your comrades have your differing thoughts and personalities? If you had no soul you wouldn't have any of that. You would be nothing more than the constructs we have seen here."-Death explained in an annoyed tone, as if what he said earlier about gems being souls is the most obvious thing in the world.

If Garnet noted the annoyance in the Horseman's voice, she didn't show any reaction to it, instead she just said-"Hmm, good point."

"So allow me to repeat my previous question: what do you want?"-Death said, having the effect of getting Garnet's attention, to which she responded:

"I just came by to make sure you didn't ditch us. Although I guess the Shaman Maker made sure of that."

Death didn't respond to that statement as she was somewhat correct. The Shaman did follow after him when he left the outworlders, but she never uttered a word, not that she needed since the Horseman knew exactly what she wanted to say. Garnet took his silence as a confirmation of what she just said and continued speaking:

"In case you're wondering everyone has settled down a bit. Rex has finally cooled off, and so did Jenny and Ben. Steven is still a bit shaken, but otherwise fine and-"

"Why are you telling me all of this, when it should be clear to you that I do not care?"-Death interrupted Garnet's explaining and if she was offended by his rudeness, again she didn't show it.

"I am telling you this, because you will have to face everybody at some point."-Garnet spoke calmly, and the Horseman spoke again, but never turned around to look at the gem.

"Why? I already know what answer they will give to my question, so why bother confronting them about it?"

After a moment, Garnet spoke again-"Alright, than tell me what you think they will tell you."

Death sighed in annoyance again, but answered nonetheless-"They will tell me that they will stubbornly refuse my words, which means that I will have to do all of the work by finishing off our opponents."

Garnet didn't say anything right away, because in all honesty she didn't need her future vision to know that the Horseman was right. Nobody from their group, be they heroes or not, has ever even thought about taking someone else's life, heck they never even _tried_ to do something like that. The reasons vary, from 'killing being wrong' and that if they start killing than they would be no better than villains. However when Death said that they will have to kill in order to survive and get home, Garnet couldn't come up with a good enough counter argument. The Horseman was right, they weren't in their world anymore, so the rules are bound to be different here than back home.

"I will take your silence as confirmation to what I already know to be true."-Death's voice suddenly snapped Garnet out of her internal debate. After a few seconds she regained her composure and spoke once again:

"Even so, you still made a promise that you will help us. And even that old Maker, Eideard said that we will have to stick together."

At this point Death had enough of this same excuse and so he turned to glare at the tall gem and spoke in a much more irritated voice-"WHY do you keep insisting for me to let you accompany me? I heard what the Maker said and I do not care, because I cannot afford anymore setbacks than I already have. So explain to me why do you want to follow me?!"

Garnet remained silent for a moment, before she spoke in a calm voice once again-"You know already that I'm a fusion, but do you know what gems make me me?"-her question surprised the Horseman, as evidenced by his not-so-visible shocked expression underneath his mask. Having gotten Death's attention, Garnet removed her visor, revealing a red and blue eye and an additional third red eye on her forehead, and then she spoke once again-"I am a fusion of a Ruby and a Sapphire. While Ruby provides most of the muscle and strength, Sapphire has an… additional ability I use quite frequently. That ability allows me to peer into the future and witness all possible outcomes and determine which one is the best one to happen now. I call it 'future vision'."

After a moment of silence Death spoke up, but this time much more calmly-"And what does you clairvoyance have to do with my previous question?"

At this Garnet cast her gaze down on the cobbled floor with a rather sad look in her three eyes before speaking again-"…Ever since we exited that portal and ended up in that ice world I…I couldn't use my future vision. Even now in this world, and from the moment we started talking I never stopped trying to get it to work and I failed each time."-Garnet then looked back up and into Death's eyes and continued-"Steven, the other Crystal Gems and even those from the group who know of my future vision have always relied on me in the past to tell them what is the right course of action or which way is the safest or even how to help those who are in big trouble. Now I can't even use the power that has helped me and the others so many times and it…it scares me. I am now walking forward blind like everybody else, not knowing ahead what will happen next and it scares me…both of me."-she said the last part glancing at the gems that are in her hands, before looking back up at the Horseman-"Don't you understand? We want to follow you and we want you to help us because whether the others admit it or not, we are all scared. We are lost in a completely new world with no plan or strategy and we don't know what's out there waiting for us and it scares all of us. That is our reason for wanting your help."-Garnet placed her visor back over her eyes and spoke one last time before turning around to walk away-"So I urge you to think this through Horseman Death, and at least give us a chance."

Death stood in place, looking at the spot the fusion previously occupied. On one hand he couldn't care less about how scared the outworlders are all because they are no longer in their world. To him, their fear is like that of a child who is too scared to walk more than five steps away from their house. However there was a part of him that felt something stir inside his mind the moment Garnet mentioned how scared everyone is.

In his mind Death saw a cage hanging by a chain in a place of almost endless darkness. Inside the cage there was a little boy crying into his knees, being scared of the perpetual dark and silence, afraid that something will come and get him.

Death shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts and after a few more moments of thought he made up his mind about what to do.

 **XXX**

Back with the group, everyone is now seated around a fire and roasting some rodent like creatures. Even though Steven tried to speak against eating live animals, in the end he was outvoted and Pearl made sure he didn't watch or listen when Jack, Ben and Juniper set up their foods for roasting.

Everyone sat mostly in silence, until Woody broke the ice with a sigh and said-"You'd find more cheer in a frickin' graveyard."

"Yeah? Well after what just happened I think everyone lost their good mood."-Yumi said

"Urgh, how many times do I have to say it? I'm sorry, okay?!"-Rex spoke up, knowing what the Japanese girl was reffering to.

"I think you know well who you should be apologizing to."-Garnet's soft, monotone voice brought everyone's attention to her as she walked towards the gathered heroes.

"Hey you're back and not dead, great."-Eddy said with clear sarcasm in his voice, which earned him a slap at the back of the head by Dexter, who was next to speak:

"So what results did your meeting with Death yield Ms. Garnet?"

After sitting herself between Steven and Marco, Garnet answered-"Too early to say. I gave him some food for thought, so hopefully he'll make the right decision."

"Yeeeahh, you probably shouldn't get your hopes up for that one Garnet."-Marco said, uncertain and nervous about what he just said.

"What do ya mean karate boy?"-Amethyst asked before eating her own skewered dinner…stick and all, as usual.

"Well just think about it for a sec guys."-Marco answered, while eating his own food, albeit cringing at the taste-"That dude is called 'Death' for a reason, ya know. Who's to say he'll just ditch us here and move on, or even kill us and then move on."

This silenced everybody gathered, and after a moment it was Woody who broke the ice yet again-"I think we're about to find out."

And as the woodpecker pointed his white gloved wing in a direction the others followed with their gazes and saw the one they dreaded to face.

After walking up the stone steps Death locked his eyes with everyone else's and after a moment he approached the circle of heroes. As he approached a random spot between Double D and Amy, the two humans parted away from each other allowing the Horseman to sit down.

There was a moment of awkward silence, before Ed spoke up, oblivious to the situation as ever:

"Want some dinner Mr. Death? I put some grave on it to make it more yummy."

As the lovable lump offered the Grim Reaper one of the skewered rodents with a thick layer of gravy on it, the nephilim in question simply stared at it and even at the smiling child offering it to him. After a full minute Death conceded, took the food and after slightly lifting his mask, took a bite out of it. After swallowing the food he looked at the smiling Ed-boy, who seemed to have been eagerly waiting for a response from him.

"Well?"-asked an excited Ed-"Was it good or what?"

Death simply tossed the skewer back at to the boy and said-"Remove that repulsive liquid off it and I will tell you my opinion then."

This got a confused look from Ed since he didn't really understand literally half of what the Horseman said, so Vamber decided to elaborate:

"It means he doesn't like your gravy dear."

This got a sad look from Ed as he turned to address the executioner-"Aww, but why?"

"Yeah dude."-Amethyst added as she took the sampled skewer from Ed, since she was sitting next to him-"This stuff is great. And since it goes well with _everything_ , I don't see why anyone would hate gravy."-and as she finished her statement Amethyst gulped up the whole skewer again.

Death didn't answer at first and it was surprisingly Ben who answered the purple gem-"Uhhh, not to sound like _that_ guy, but I'm pretty sure most people don't like gravy as much as you and Ed do Amethyst."

"Yeeaah, Ben's right."-Star added-"I mean, I like some gravy on my pancakes every morning, but not entire _buckets_ of the stuff."

"Pfft, buckets? Try an entire bathtub worth of gravy."-Eddy added-"I should know, since me and Sockhead saw this lump's bathroom."

"…Somehow that just makes gravy sound even more disgusting."-Woody added as well with a deadpanned look on his face.

"It appears you have received your answer gem."-Death addressed Amethyst, who simply shrugged and said.

"Meh, your loss dude."

"Ahem, excuse me, but can we please steer this conversation back to its rightful course and address the obvious elephant in the room?"-Dexter interjected, impatience lacing his voice.

"Dexter's right."-Blossom added, then turned to address the Horseman-"I don't think you came back here just to taste our food, right Mr. Death?"

Death was silent for a moment, before speaking-"Though I wish I would not have returned at all, I felt...compelled by certain…elements to return here and consult all of you."

Even though Death answered the pink powerpuff's question, his elaborate response garnered a lot of confused looks, to which Garnet had the remedy for.

"In other words: I convinced him to come back."-the fusion said with pride in her voice and her visor shining in the moonlight, to which there was a unanimous 'ooooohhh'.

"Ya know, you could've just said so from the start duder."-Prohyas said, to which Death simply sighed in annoyance and shook his head.

"Well, since you're here, I'm guessing you're here to apologies for what you did earlier?"-Jenny said, glaring at the rider, to which he responded with:

"No I am not. And what have I got to apologies for, when I have done nothing wrong?"

The robot girl gave a bewildered look at the rider's response, and was about to retort, when Rex put his hand on her shoulder and said.

"Jenny calm down. I think we both know who really has to apologies here."

The eldest Wakeman daughter looked back at her crush and said with shock and surprise-"But…but Rex he tried to kill you, me and Ben too! He-"

"Only because I kept provoking him."-Rex interrupted the robot girl-"Look Jack and Steven were both right. I was angry and I took it out on Death and I know now that I shouldn't have, so…"

Rex fell silent as he turned to address the nephilim in question, but before he could say a word, Death spoke up first.

"Save your apologies for someone who cares about them, because I do not. Besides you have already said what was on your mind to the female construct. I would prefer not to hear your words again if it is possible."

Rex was about to retort, but then he realized that he had indeed said his apology towards Death to Jenny, which quickly got his mouth shut.

"Sooo, I'm guessing you're here for the… _other_ reason, right?"-Ben asked, even though he dreaded to hear the answer.

"Yes."-Death answered immediately, knowing full well what the alien hero was reffering to-"And before any of you say anything, than perhaps I need to remind you that for whatever reason, you are not in your own realm anymore, which means that your codes of honor either mean less here than they did back in your world, or nothing at all."

This of course hardly surprised any of the gathered heroes, since most of them were already fully aware of this particular detail.

"Oh please, you're just saying that because the idea of a peaceful resolution with your enemies somehow offends you."-Pearl suddenly spoke up, getting a lot of shocked looks from everyone as well as her teammates and Steven looking at her with incredulity. Death however simply looked at her with what could almost be described as a deadpanned look.

"Is this hypocrisy I suddenly hear gem?"-Death asked in his usual sarcastic manner-"Because if you speak of peace, then it is strange that neither you, your rebels or your 'illustrious' leader have never tried it with your former masters."

Pearl gained a shocked and insulted look on her face and was about to retort, until Ben beat her to the punch.

"Unfortunately…he's got a point Pearl."-the white gem looked at the shape shifting hero with incredulity, but Ben continued before the lance wielding gem could speak-"I mean, you guys have been fighting the Diamonds ever since Rose Quartz started her rebellion, right? ***Pearl nods*** Well…when was the last time you guys thought about solving this whole civil gem war thing peacefully?"

Pearl tried to come up with a valid enough answer, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't find one. And it is only now she realized that she truly did sound like a hypocrite just now. Realizing this, Pearl simply looked down to the ground, her cheeks blushing in shame and her voice silent.

"Anyway,"-Double D spoke up next, causing Death to look directly at him, making the smart Ed-boy very nervous-"I-I-I th-think what everybody i-is c-collectively thinking L-Lord D-Death, i-is that it will be difficult to a-aclimate their fighting skills to this new environment, s-sir."

There was an awkward silence for the moment, some even thinking about why Double D called the Horseman 'Lord Death'. Finally it was Jack who spoke up:

"What Eddward means to say is that if you ask us to take another being's life, sentient or not, it will be difficult for us to do so."

Another moment of silence later Death surprised everyone by slightly laughing in amusement. This forced an obvious question on to the gathered heroes, one which Buttercup voiced in the end-"And what did Sensei say that you find sooo funny, ya creep?"

After stopping his laughing Death elaborated, addressing Jack-"You say that it will be difficult for you to take another creature's life samurai…and yet I see that you had no such difficulty when you, not only killed these little rodents, but also cooked them in order to eat them."

Death's statement triggered a surprise look on Jack's face as well as on several others'. While it is true that Jack was the one who killed the creatures and Ben and Juniper helped him skewer them, it was because they had to eat.

"That's different and you know it!"-Ben interjected-"We needed to eat and…people eat…rodents all…the time…and-"

"What I know, Shapeshifter,"-Death interrupted Ben's pathetic excuse-"Is that if you are capable of killing something so small, than much larger beings that will try to kill you in every manner they can think of, should be no trouble at all for the likes of you."

This statement silenced everyone and with that Death continued as he stared at the fire in the middle of the circle with a faraway look in his eyes-"Never the less, for the moment there will probably only be constructs that will get in the way, so those should provide good practice for what is to come."-and before he could finish his little speech, Death raised his head and directed his gaze upon everyone gathered, an air of extreme seriousness blazing from his fiery eyes-"However, when we do encounter beings of flesh and blood, be they angel, demon or anything else, you **will** do whatever it takes to finish them off, because if not then you will pay for such hesitance with your very lives. And I will not be there to save your lives a second time, because my brother's fate is the only one that concerns me, yours does not."

After the reaper concluded his little speech everyone fell deathly silent **(*the audience became silent except for a cricket* I'll go to the corner now *author goes to the corner*)**. After Death had said his peace he got up from his seat and spoke one last time:

"Think on that carefully if any of you wishes to see your precious realm ever again."-and with that Death walked away, presumably back to where he was sitting before, leaving everyone in even grimmer silence than ever before.

No one said a single word or even breathed too loudly for the better part of two minutes, until Prohyas decided to open the floodgates:

"Sooooooo…"

"Well I guess there goes whatever good mood was left, huh?"-Amethyst said

"Amethyst please, this is serious!"-Pearl chided her fellow gem, still feeling angry at how easily Death countered and destroyed her previous argument.

"Yeah, no kidding…."-Juniper spoke with a great deal of uncertainty in her voice

"So I guess the million dollar question is: what are we going to do now?"-Rex asked with just as much uncertainty as everyone else.

"What do you mean by that Rex?"-Pearl asked, as if the evo teen just asked the stupidest question in the universe-"We will simply look for another way to get to this 'Tree of Life' without that brute and find a way home."

Now everybody looked at Pearl as she just said something stupid ***author: which she did***. After a moment of silence Amethyst spoke up:

"Uhhh, what the heck do ya mean P?"

"Yeah."-Bubbles added, though rather reluctantly-"I thought we were supposed to stick together with Mr. Death."

"Well he has clearly expressed his opinion of us and for this once I agree with him in not working together."-Pearl answered, sounding so sure of her answer-"After all, this wouldn't be the first time we all ended up in some risky situation. We've come out on top before, so why should we rely on some murdering savage like him for help?"

Another moment of silence before Woody answered with a deadpanned expression-"Uh, 'cause we're stuck in another world?"

"And he might know his way around?"-Juniper added.

"He could tell us what we will be up against?"-Blossom also added.

"He could give us more information about the Tree of Life?"-Dexter logically added as well.

"He's big and strong and hot and we should totally listen to him?"-Yumi also added, trying to sound like her uncarrying self, but the way she worded out her sentence drew a few odd looks from the heroes.

"Ahem, Yumi…"-Ami said as she slightly nudged her friend with her elbow.

"What?"-Yumi asked with confusion on her face.

"Right, uhm not counting what Yumi just said,"-Ben said, making said rockstar look annoyingly at him-"To summarize, why need his help, whether we like it or not."

Pearl was shocked upon hearing this, but then she recomposed herself and said-"Oh please, you all heard what he said. He clearly doesn't want to have anything to do with us and even if he does he still expects us to follow his modus operandum. And I for one will not allow such influence on-"

"Miss Pearl."-Jack cut off the white gems ranting-"I understand how you feel about this current situation, but I'm afraid Ben is right. We are in unknown territories right now and we need someone to help us in finding a way to the Tree of Life."

"Well then let's just ask one of the locals, those 'Makers', for help."-Pearl countered.

"W-well while that _does_ sound like a viable option."-Double D spoke-"Y-you heard the ones whom we met said. Th-they refuse to leave the confines of th-their fortifications i-in fear of this Corruption."

"Double D's right."-Juniper added, drawing a surprised look from the smart Ed-boy-"And since that Death guy is the only one who is willing to go to the Tree, I'd say he's our best shot at getting there too."

"Yeah."-Prohyass also added-"Plus having him with us would be like having some extra muscle. And I don't think having some extra muscle would be such a bad thing, right?"

"Yes, quite so dear brother."-Vamber added

Pearl was now more shocked than ever. She couldn't believe that her own comrades were siding against her, even Amethyst, one of her own teammates wasn't siding with her. She directed her gaze towards her team's current leader, Garnet, who sat stoicly and didn't speak since this entire discussion started. Sensing her comrades gaze upon her, the fusion turned and addressed Pearl, giving her an answer she didn't want to hear, but had to hear in the end:

"I believe the outcome is clear. We need the Horseman Death's help if we want to have any chance of getting back home."

Now Pearl looked like she had just been betrayed. Garnet, her leader and only hope of turning this 'debate' around just up and sided against her like everyone else. This didn't sit well with the lance user, as she gritted her teeth in anger, and then sprang up to her feet, with a look of hurt, anger and betrayal on her face.

"NO! All of you are just being ridiculous! In case it has escaped you that…that…SAVAGE BRUTE killed the only person who could get us back to Earth and openly confessed to being death itself! And on top of that it tried to kill some of us – Rex, Ben and Jenny – and is now DEMANDING us to take others' lives just like he does! You all might be desperate enough to lose all sense of reason but I'm not! I won't allow him to-"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"-Rex got up from his seat as well and glared so intensely at Pearl, everyone thought his gaze alone would dissolve her gemstone-"You think we like this Pearl?! Do you think we WANT to join up with that murdering psyco?! Yeah we are desperate, because we have no other choice right now! And Jun's right, Death is the only one with the balls to go out there and try and get to that stupid tree! And since, the last time I checked, we know NOTHING about this place he is our ONLY shot at getting home! And yeah you're right, he's gonna make us kill and I don't like it any more than you do! But we don't have the fucking luxury of arguing with someone like Death right now!"

Rex fell silent to catch his breath after that intense rant, and everyone was dead silent right now. They were all shocked at how ferociously he lashed out at the rebel gem's stubbornness. And Pearl herself was as silent as she was shocked up hearing the evo hero's words. Her face then contorted back to her previous angry one and was just about ready to lash out with her own words, but a slight tug at her right hand caused her to stop and look down…only to be met with the pleading eyes of Steven Universe.

"Pearl, please just stop."-the little half gem said, tears threatening to form in his eyes-"I don't want you to start fighting with everyone. Everybody's been on edge ever since this whole mess started but that doesn't give any of us the right to start fighting amongst ourselves. And…I know why you're really upset. You don't want me to see you or the others kill. ***this caused Pearl's eyes to widen in shock*** And yeah I still say that killing is wrong. But like Rex just said, we can't afford to be picky right now. I-if you guys agreeing to kill is the only way Mr. Death is gonna agree to help us…than you have to agree…if for nothing else, than at least to get him to help us get home…"

The reluctance behind his lest words didn't escape anybody's notice, especially Pearl's. And she had to agree that Steven was right, the only reason she's so worked up right now and was against working with the Horseman, was because she didn't want to allow Steven to witness them killing other living beings. She even explicitly told Jack to prepare their food as far away from Steven as possible. The boy may be the bearer of Rose Quartz's gem, but he was a child first and foremost, and children should not have to bear witness to the kind of violence that Death would no doubt bring to the table.

However, Steven was also right about one other thing: if they didn't agree to Death's demands, than he would leave them in the dust, and they would probably never be able to get to the Tree, despite her 'confidence' in their skills earlier. So basically she had to choose to either follow her emotions in refusing Death's offer for help and thus continue sheltering Steven's innocence. Or accept Death's offer and thus inevitably find a way to get back to Earth, but having to risk Steven witness them commit killing. In hindsight this was another case of the needs of the many vs the needs of the few, and looking at everyone at the campsite, Pearl knew which choice she would have to make. So with a long sigh of defeat the white gem looked at the floor dejectedly and said:

"Okay…alright…I…accept his offer as well…"

Everyone relaxed, relieved that Pearl was on board with this. Not that most of them like this idea, as Rex said, however…

"Hey Pearl."-Rex said, but more gently this time-"Look, I'm…sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean to yell like that it's just… ***sigh*** I guess I just want to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible and get back home."

"Y-yes, yes I know Rex."-Pearl replied, now calmer herself-"And I know you meant no harm by it. But I suppose in hindsight I needed that, since I can get a little too stubborn sometimes."

"Your worries are well justified."-Jack spoke, drawing everyone's attention-"But remember what Death-sama told us. Right now we will only have to face those stone beasts from earlier and hopefully those will be the only things we will have to face."

"Yes I know Jack, I know."-Pearl said as she sat back down-"But still…this doesn't feel right…"

And the other heroes agreed. As far as they were concerned, making a deal with Death was almost tantamount to making a deal with the devil. And based on Death's current mannerisms, they were inclined to believe it. However nobody voiced this thought, lest another argument would break out.

"Well…"-Eddy started saying as he stretched his arms above his head-"I don't know about you guys, but I feel like hittin' the sack."

And for once Eddy's words rang true. Everyone started to feel the weight of this day's (?) craziness wash over them as they felt as if they hadn't rested in a week.

" ***yawn*** For once I agree with ya kid."-Yumi said.

"Yeah I think we can all use some shut-eye."-Marco added-"After, I think starting tomorrow we won't have too much time for rest."

"Ugh, don't remind me kid."-Woody said as he flew to a low hanging branch and immediately went to sleep.

"Welp, I think that's our que to hit the hay."-Star added as she grabbed Marco by the arm and went to a spot close to the fire to get some sleep.

Everybody else went to look for a place to claim as their sleeping spots. Some chose to sleep near the fire for warmth, others decided to sleep near the walls. An idea which Rex had, as he sat up against it, but before he could close his eyes, he received a surprising visitor.

"Uhm, Rex?"-Jenny spoke up hesitantly, but still managed to get the teen hero's attention-"C-can I sleep n-next to you tonight?"-upon finishing and seeing Rex's clueless face the robot girl quickly continued-"N-not that I'm s-scared or anything, i-it's just that a-after all the craziness today I-I was hoping that…well…th-that is…what I mean is I…"

Jenny kept stuttering and tripping over her own words and her metallic face kept glowing bluer and bluer with each word. AT this point she wanted to just sink into the ground and turn to rust, until Rex spoke up.

"Sure, why not."-at those words, Jenny looked at Rex's smiling face as he continued-"I mean, it's not like we've got separate rooms or anything, so you can sleep wherever you want Jen, I guess."

Jenny was certain that her true intentions behind this arrangement probably flew over Rex's head, judging by the obliviousness of his response, but she wasn't about to squander this chance to ACTUALLY sleep next to her crush.

"Okay. Thanks Rex."-Jenny said as she sat down next to him and activated her sleep mode, while Rex closed his eyes to sleep as well. But before her systems completely shut down, Jenny's mouth curled into a tiny smile and had one final thought before drifting off to sleep:

' _I hope my head will slip during the night and 'accidentally' fall on Rex's shoulder. Tehe.'_

And so everyone went to their respective Dream realms as they all fell asleep, except for the gems, who merely remained in their seated areas. Something which didn't escape Steven's eyes.

"Hey aren't you guys gonna get some sleep too?"-as the gems looked at the boy and ready to answer his question, Steven quickly realized what he said and quickly added-"I-I mean…I know you guys don't need any sleep or anything, but after everything that's happened to us 'till now, shouldn't you guys get some rest too?"

Realizing the meaning behind his words the Crystal Gems simply gave the half gem a soft smile each and Pear was the one to say:

"Thank you for your concern Steven, but you don't have to worry about us. We're fine, given the circumstances. And really, it should be _you_ who should be getting some sleep."

"Yeah little dude."-Amethyst continued-"You heard what Karate Kid said. We're gonna have a loooong day tomorrow so you're gonna have to save your strength."

"Amethyst!"

"What? It's true."-Amethyst looked back at Pearl.

Seeing that there's no point in arguing with them anymore, Steven decided to just leave the matter alone and go to sleep himself.

"Well…okay, if you guys say so. Goodnight then guys."

"Goodnight/'Night Steven."-the Gems all said and once she knew everyone was asleep Pearl turned to Garnet and asked her an important question:

"Garnet. Do you think this really is a good idea to team up with _him_? You know very well what he is and what he is capable of. Does your Future Vision tell you an outcome that is good in this situation?"

Garnet remained silent as her two remaining comrades looked at her for an answer, until she spoke up.

"I know you hate the Horseman Death for what he is Pearl, and I don't agree with this plan either. But desperate times always tend to lead to desperate measures. If and when he betrays us, we will deal with it then, but for now we'll have to cooperate."-Amethyst and Pearl looked uncertainly at the floor, not entirely satisfied with that answer, but it will have to do for now. And now came the part which Garnet dreaded the most: telling them about her Future Vision-"As for my Future Vision, well…there's something I have to tell you guys…"

And as the fusion explained the unusual situation with her power and everyone was blissfully asleep, none of them noticed the large black crow with the green aura spying on them from its high perch. Seeing that it had seen enough Dust worldlessly flew off, back to his waiting master.

 **XXX**

 **A/N: *author falls on his knees and slams his hands and feet before the readers* I am sosososososososososososo very sorry for posting this only now. I know the whole 'better late than never' shtick but this really did become ridiculous, even for me.**

 **I was planning for this to be a short chapter that would mark the end of the prologue and I would post this and the next chapter together, but somehow I ended up dragging this whole thing out to ridiculous lengths. And also there was my dissertation and so much fucking hype (Godzilla King of the Monster, Rising of the Shield Hero, Jump Force, Darksiders 3 and Genesis to name a few), that I lost interest all together for a while, until I managed to muscle my way through.**

 **But anyway, the next chapter will be the start of the journey through the Forge Lands, some explanations from Death's part will also be included, and lots of fights, maybe even the heroes' first kill.**

 **But anyway like I said, I am very sorry it took this long to post this thing, and I'm not gonna say when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully my mojo will get back long enough to make SOME measure of progress. Oh and also a quick FYI I'm going to release a new story in the near future, featuring my most favorite isekai anime and my most favorite mmorpg game (and it ain't WoW), so be on the lookout for that.**

 **Personally I'm not satisfied with some the parts in this chapter but hopefully it won't hinder you guys from SOMEHOW enjoying it. Hope to see you guys in the future and have a good day/night. La revedere.**


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